Song for Marion (2012) Reviews

• Good Grief!

  davidgee2013-02-27

  How did they pitch this? QUARTET meets CALENDAR GIRLS? Vanessa Redgrave plays a Senior Citizen (in the north of England) dying from cancer who somehow finds the strength to sing with a local choir of fellow OAPs. Her grumpy old git of a husband (Terence Stamp) wants her to stay home and greet the Grim Reaper while he (Arthur) tenderly cares for her, but - guess what? The sub-plot involving Arthur and his estranged son (Christopher Eccleston) is over-familiar but also touching - he even has a cute smarty-pants daughter cloned from Shirley Temple. OK, this is a very predictable story which shamelessly milks tears from the audience, but there is some pleasing humour as well as the somewhat heavy-handed tragedy. The performances - what did you expect from Redgrave and Stamp? - are nothing less than stellar. I see nominations for BAFTAs and maybe even next year's Oscars. Stamp gives perfectly judged grief. Gemma Arterton is excellent as the choir-mistress with an unhappy love life and it's a joy to see Anne Reid in the chorus line. All the supporting cast of yesteryear character players are splendid, as they were in QUARTET. Pensioner power is beginning to have an impact at the box office - about time too! This is lightweight entertainment pitched at the Grey Pound and it is outrageously mawkish, but it sets out to warm the stoniest of hearts and it certainly warmed mine.

• You'll be walking out of the cinema with a warm smile on your face.

  tomfoster-22013-03-08

  In his directorial debut Paul Andrew Williams gave us an impressive, gritty and bleak crime film, London to Brighton – a film shot in just 19 days on a budget of £19,000. In his latest work he goes on the complete other end of the spectrum to deliver us a heart-warming comedy-drama, Song for Marion. When looking at its exterior, most would easily jump to labeling it a sentimental film which it's one motive is to get you blubbering. It certainly succeeds in getting you to shed tears, but this is through the film's well developed relationships between the characters, especially that of Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) and Arthur (Terence Stamp). Marion is terminally ill and is cared for by her grumpy husband, Arthur – he reluctantly helps fulfil her wishes to attend local OAP choir sessions headed by a young music teacher, Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton). But of course as Marion's health begins to fade, Arthur finds himself becoming more and more desperate about the inevitable prospect of being alone without his beloved wife. This prompts him to become more involved in the choir's sessions, which builds up to the group's entry into a national choir competition – a beat very much in the vein of the 1996 film, Brassed Off. The on-screen chemistry between Redgrave and Stamp is heart-wrenching; it's hard to fight back those tears as the two comfort one another during Marion's final months. But it's when Arthur finally confesses to Marion that he's scared about being without her that I finally let the tears subside – it's just beautiful stuff. Redgrave's singing performance of True Colours and Stamp's final belting delivery of Goodnight My Darling will also leave you and the theatre audience in a quiver of snivels. But on the side there is very funny and touching moments with the choir themselves which mix in well to not make you an emotional wreck for the majority of the film. Christopher Eccleston is effective on the sidelines as Arthur and Marion's son who struggles to bond with his stone-walled father. I felt Eccleston was slightly underused, but nonetheless enjoyable in the scenes he had; meanwhile Arterton is sweet and caring as Elizabeth, who tries hard to break down Arthur's cold exterior in order to get him involved with the choir. This is a splendid British picture – Paul Andrew Williams proves here that he can tackle pretty much any genre, and if you take a look at his other genre films, you'll see that the man certainly has the knack – He's done horror, crime and now a beautiful British comedy-drama. The performances are splendid, the comedic and teary moments are balanced perfectly – but ultimately what makes the film work is that it doesn't try to break you down into an emotional wreck, it merely presents its characters in situations; bonding, caring and helping one another through the tough times. This is the kind of British film we need more of – you'll be walking out of the cinema with a warm smile on your face.

• Please see this movie!

  Erica_li_72013-02-11

  I was lucky enough to have free tickets for the preview screening. To be honest, if it wasn't for free, this movie would not have been a movie that I would choose to pay to watch. I am 24 and I don't think I would be interested in watching a movie starring with some oldies but I was totally wrong and I am so glad that I had gone to watch this movie. AND I WILL PAY TO WATCH THIS AGAIN! This movie has a very simple storyline, but this story relates to all of us somehow. Many of us have had loved one(s) passed away and surely the hardship and grievance that Arthur has been through is not new to us. And the troubled relationship between the father and son. It is this simple story with just good acting. It will make you cry! Not because of sadness but because of love. I don't see many people without a tissue wiping their eyes and noses during the movie. And this is what good movie does to you! Please go and see this movie. You wont regret it.

• Beautifully directed film...

  christine-705-7171532013-07-10

  It's another movie about old people, (there have been so many recently) with an amazing cast and a storyline that tugs at the heartstrings and makes terrible faults bearable. Yep, Unfinished Song (released in the UK as Song for Marion) is a must-see, a nostalgic look back at a life we all share, filled with successes and regrets, that in the end is filled with the gray we all have in our own lives. When we left the movie, my cousin Gary, a man of few words, indicated that he hadn't loved it. "It took me on too many rides," he said. "Happy, sad, mad, up and down, over and over. It was too much." The stories of our lives are sometimes too much, and the three months or so that we travel during Unfinished Song is a roller-coaster through all of it: missteps, loss, laughter, success. Gary's right, it's tough to take. But it's worth the ride. Just don't make plans for after you see it. And the acting. Oh my God, the acting. What is there to say about Vanessa Redgrave that hasn't been said? I think I've found something. Her body is old. Really old. And she wore it unabashedly, exposing herself and her oldness without one ounce of self- consciousness — unlike my friends and I, who find ourselves embarrassed to be aging around one another. I admire her. I am grateful for the lesson. Watch her in the opening scene, when she is singing with her choir-mates. Watch her body move, and ask yourself if you would let yours do the same in public. Terrance Stamp. Who knew sir? Well done. Vanessa is not the star; you are. You embody all the qualities of that sons-of-WWII generation, who never quite learned to wear your feelings on your sleeves, let alone utter a word that might make you vulnerable. And you can sing? You should get kudos for this performance, although you won't because no movies that play in June and July ever do. I will give you an award, however, and I hope to see you at the Globes and the Academy Awards next February. Billy Joel wrote "Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel)" a lovely lullaby for his daughter, Alexa, which I downloaded and listened to years and years ago. It's the song our Arthur sings to his departed wife, about their departed life, and I love that song more now than I did then. Listen to it. Listen to the words and dare to hope that you might have someone you would like to sing it to. Unfinished Song is a movie that has music, not to be confused with a musical. And if you want to cry, or you want to think about what you might want to fix now rather than waiting until later, take a trip to the theater and watch this beautifully directed film.

• A small film with a big heart

  neil-4762013-03-01

  Grumpy old Arthur (Terence Stamp) takes terminal cancer sufferer wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) to weekly practice at her pensioner choir even though he has little patience for it. But after Marion's death he feels strangely drawn to it... Carefully sold in the trailer as Britain's latest geriatric comedy, this is not a comedy at all. Yes, there are amusing moments, but most of them are in the trailer. And, although it is unashamedly sentimental, it isn't entirely a schmaltzy heartstring tugger, either. It is a portrait of Arthur. All the joy in Arthur's life has come from Marion, who had enough for them both and for everyone else her life touched. Once she is gone, Arthur's morose nature leaves him stranded, incapable of connecting easily with others, and estranged from son James with whom he has never had an easy relationship. Perhaps the choir, and jaunty choir leader Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) will enable him to make those connections for himself. I'll be honest, I have never greatly rated Terence Stamp. I have always felt that he has coasted on the back of his extraordinarily striking looks (still every bit as striking as he marches into his seventies) and that his performances have showed little variation, skill or technique. But here – and without downplaying the wonderful support he gets from Redgrave, Arterton and Ecclestone – he is superb. It helps that the part suits his "less is more" approach, but that is not to disparage the way that a small performance highlights big emotions. It is a subtle, wise and touching performance in a film which has no great truths to impart, but which always entertains nevertheless.