Gideon's Daughter

This is definitely not a film for everyone. But I was eager to see it and happy to get it on DVD, as I live outside the UK and don't get the BBC. Bill Nighy, Miranda Richardson and Robert Lindsay together in one film is must, no matter what the film might be about.

This is a slow film, things happen almost in "real time", and the characters are very realistic. I work in a shop in a big train station, I get to see the most different people every day. People like Gideon or Stella do exist, and why not make a film about characters like them? The most beautiful or rather endearing scene, enchanting maybe even, was when Stella and Gideon lie next to each other in Stella's bed and talk about their lives and loved ones. A very quiet scene, and endlessly touching to watch.

Someone else said here, people probably have to be quite creative to understand this film. This might be true. You have to let go of conventional films a bit to be able to embrace this one. But if you're open enough to new impressions, then this is the right film for you. Or if you just want to see excellent performances by aforementioned actors.

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.

Although it was "just" a TV movie, the TV network was the BBC. It was written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, a well-established creative mind. The story is about two people, Stella and Gideon who have lost an only child, one to death, the other to negligence. Stella had divorced her husband, who reacts violently to his loss. Stella remains calm and only occasionally indulges in sadness. Their child was taken by death.

Gideon, on the other hand, a superstar of big productions for the British government, realizes that he has neglected his daughter until she has become almost estranged from him. He recognizes the similarities in his and Stella's sadness and they connect--physically, intellectually, and spiritually. The movie is a quiet piece, the stillness broken only by Stella's husband at the onset of the story.

The movie is intentionally slow-moving, as one of the reviewers put it, "almost in real time." But for those capable of subtleties, the acting shows clearly the visible clues to both lead character's grief.

This movie is in a class with "Obsession" with Glynnis Paltrow and Sidney Pollack's last movie (I think), "Random Hearts". These are three of the most beautiful motion pictures I have watched, and I am an avid movie-goer.

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.

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!