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