Search - The Winter Guest on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Profanity Movie Release: 1997 DVD Release: 08/30/2005 Format: DVD - Color,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 50 mins Studio: Image Entertainment Members Wishing: 9 Genres: Drama, Family Drama

Adapted from a stage play by Sharman McDonald, this film marks the directorial debut of British character actor Alan Rickman. Set against a bleak winter landscape of rural Scotland, the story centers around the recently widowed Frances (Emma Thompson) and a visit from her mother, Elspeth (Phyllida Law, Thompson's real-life mother). Elspeth seeks to console Frances, but Frances resists. The mother and daughter have a prickly relationship. While they thrust and parry emotionally, Frances' son Alex (Gary Hollywood) longs for the tomboy Nita (Arlene Cockburn). Two young boys, Tom (Sean Biggerstaff) and Sam (Douglas Murphy), are in the neighborhood looking for adventure. Two older women, Chloe (Sandra Voe) and Lily (Sheila Reed), go to funerals of strangers. The epidosic film eventually ties together all these characters in a surprising way, but the core of the drama is the evolution of the difficult mother-daughter relationship. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Phyllida Law - Elspeth
Emma Thompson - Frances
Gary Hollywood - Alex
Arlene Cockburn - Nita
Sheila Reid - Lily