A Filha de Gideon

I ordered Gideon's Daughter from Netflicks after watching the Golden Globes and seeing awards for both Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt. The movie is well worth watching for anyone who enjoys their work, as well as that of Miranda Richardson. The plot is a little confusing, and what is a throw-away scene at the beginning of the film becomes something that resonates throughout, so it's important to pay attention. Bill Nighy's personality is somewhat at odds with his character, who is supposed to be the most important spinmeister in England. Although there are moments when he lights up, he seems almost too laid back for the role, and it's also hard to believe he would have enough energy to be womanizer as he is supposed to be in the film. But I found his scenes with Emily Blunt to be a road map of the anger and frustration between a father and a daughter. Emily Blunt, in particular, is a revelation and if you only know her from The Devil Wears Prada, this gives a much better indication of what she is capable of doing. It has that high-gloss BBC combination of intellect, intrigue and pathos, and if you are looking for a way to spend an engrossing Sunday evening aside from the usual melodramas I recommend this.

I have now seen 'Gideon's Daughter' twice and still don't quite know how the man does it, whilst in it's glow you think it the most beautiful and spellbinding story and one wishes that it would never end. But once it does and you stand back, you realise it is actually about nothing at all, weak on story and overly sentimental and abusing the clichéd rules of scriptwriting (no telephone conversations, no narration, no flashbacks etc) with aloof disregard. You suddenly understand that a work of such quality does not have to follow antiquated misguidance, but can exist outside the usual trends and survive purely on it's own merits, characters, dialogue and empathy reign! SEE IT!

With a good central performance from Bill Nighy, and as a way of showing that Emily Blunt would go onto be a star, this is a good piece of drama.

Well worth a watch.

There's always a lot to enjoy in any Stephen Polliakoff film: striking use of images and music, an interest in big questions, and the director's lack of fear of letting things run at a slow pace where this makes the story, and atmosphere, more absorbing. But there's also always a journey into a stylised world, and a tendency to set up a false dichotomy between an overly-schematised, and fake, business world, and an overly romanticised (and arguably no less fake) real world. Even when my sympathies lie with Polliakoff, I'm always frustrated by his failure to give our own side a sufficiently hard time. 'Gideon's Daughter' is not his most interesting film, largely because its central characters (a jaded spin doctor and his almost supernaturally beautiful, talented and serene daughter) are fundamentally quite dull. A moment towards the end of the film illustrates the problem succinctly: we see the main characters disappearing from a beautiful Edinburgh street, a street that it the real world in permanently busy with traffic and people but which here is shown devoid of cars and pedestrians alike: and while a director should be forgiven occasional moments of dramatic licence, when the entire drama is framed through such a distorted lens, though big questions may be asked, they're not really answered. This is a wonderfully crafted little film; but also a film that has very little relevance to the messiness of real lives.

I just love Poliakoff - apart from 'Perfect Strangers' which bored me immensely. I found 'Shooting The Past' to be breathtaking, but 'Gideon's Daughter' occupies a different space altogether. It's about a lot of things - celebrity, grief - expressed and unexpressed - forgiveness and redemption. It's also about love and friendship, and a place where the two overlap.

I watched Bill Nighy closely throughout, and for me he never put a foot - or a hand, or a glance, or stare - wrong. Equally as exquisite was Miranda Richardson as Stella, the divorced woman whose son has died, and whose ex-husband (played by David Westhead) cannot let go of the need to 'right' a wrong.

In a way, this film is about nothing at all, and yet it encompasses so much that I'm finding it difficult to review. Don't expect to understand it all - I didn't, but that could be my short-coming. But I loved it so much I want to see it again and again. I just hope others love it as much as did I.