Edie is 83 years old and believes it is never too late to complete your dreams. When her overbearing husband passes away she sees this as her last opportunity to head to Scotland and climb Mount Suilven which is not a simple or easy task.
I can remember wanting to see this film when it was released but it had a limited number of screens at a handful of cinemas. I was fascinated by Sheila Hancock in a leading role like this and think it is a truly fantastic thing for an older actress to be given a leading role. It is still not something we get to see very often, the added bonus that this is a British film as well certainly added to it.
Beautifully shot with some truly stunning images from the mountains and surrounding areas, capturing the sunrise and sunset at times. Certainly managing to show just how beautiful Scotland really is, and somewhere I probably should think about going myself. The British countryside is very impressive and not somewhere I often think about going too, this film helps to highlight that.
Edie just happens to meet Jonny while getting off the train, more like he gets in the way. But a very unlikely friendship develops between the pair as he feels sorry for her when everything seems to go wrong at the beginning of the trip. He just so happens to work in a store where she ends up spending a lot of money on items for her trek. He also agrees to be her guide for quite a lot of money. He is taken in by her though and really does want to help her in the end.
The film really focuses on old age and how everything is not always a happy ending. One of the final scenes was truly emotional as Edie admits that she does not really like the choices she made in life and regrets so many things. It was very open and honest, making you really evaluate if you do enough now so you won't be disappointed in yourself by the time you reach your 80s, if you are lucky enough to get to that age of course. I felt that scene really helped to highlight what an incredible actress Sheila Hancock really is, being laid bare in that scene and having the camera extremely close on her face to capture the pain and sorrow. Her performance is outstanding and that is partly helped by Kevin Guthrie, I thought he had great charm and charisma in the film and was very good opposite Hancock.
While parts of the story are sad in terms of so many regrets, the fact she then wants to climb Suilven still shows that you must also have hope and never give up on something that you really want and aspire to do. A lovely British film in my opinion and I would love to see more which highlight what the United Kingdom really does have to offer.
