EDIE
UK, 2017, 103 minutes, Colour.
Sheila Hancock, Kevin Guthrie.
Directed by Simon Hunter.
Whew – and applause! The expression and feeling of this reviewer at the final close-up and triumphant image of Edie.
Edie? She is Edith Moore, an elderly widow, her daughter helping her to pack up house and moved to an aged care facility. She is getting ready to go – but, obviously, not at all ready when she visits the place. As she goes through her things, her daughter finding a diary in which Edie expressed her private responses to the hardships of her life, of control her controlling husband. She also finds a picture of a Scottish mountain which she climbed with her devoted father.
She gets a brainwave – one which her family and friends would not endorse, and the audience wonders whether this is a good idea or not. What about going back to that mountain in Scotland? What about climbing it? She packs her bags, take some money, please a message on her daughters and answering machine and takes the train to Inverness.
What seems a momentary annoyance at Inverness Station, a young man and his girlfriend rushing for the train, bumping Edie and knocking her over, turns out to be a happily fortuitous encounter. When the bus doesn’t come for several hours, he gives her a lift, helps her with accommodation because the town is booked out, lets her stay at his house. And the interesting thing is that he is working in a camping shop.
This all happens fairly early in the film so we know where we’re going, we know that we are going with Edie. At one stage, Jonny, exasperated with her says she is like a cranky cow – and then agrees that she is a cranky cow. And, though we are more sympathetic at first because we know her, she actually is something of a cranky cow.
The point is what does one do with one’s life. What choices do we make, especially after living life with its regrets, wanting to change some of life if we could? Should there be a final quest? And, of course, should there be a final quest which is so demanding as an elderly lady camping out, rowing across a lake, climbing a mountain?
Needless to say, the Scottish Highlands scenery is beautiful even if the touch barren. But, as Edie goes on her journey, we are made to feel every step with her, the exhilaration, the physical and mental demands, the beauty, the bad weather – and the relief of finding a hunters hut with shelter and warmth for a night. Will she climbed to the top of the mountain and place a stone on the canyon there as she did in the past? What will John do, initially shamed by helping her for the money she gave him, helping her with the equipment, and the dilemma whether to go to her rescue or not?
Sheila Hancock has been in films and on television for many decades. She is quite a stream screen presence as Edie. Strong-minded and strong-willed, a touch imperious, a touch cantankerous, but a woman who wants to make something of her life.
1. The title, the focus on Edie herself? Sheila Hancock’s performance?
2. The setting, the house, the aged care facility and interiors? The railway station, the train journey? Inverness, the station? The Scottish countryside, the mountains? The town, the accommodation, the shop? And the climbing of the mountain? The musical score?
3. The introduction to Edie, her age, George and his disability, the chairlift, coming down, Edie and her caring for him? Discovering him dead? The effect?
4. Three and a half years later, Edie at 83? A character, strength of character, her appearance? Dealing with Nancy, selling the house, having to move, the visit to the aged care facility, her snipping the flowers with the scissors?
5. Packing up at home, Nancy reading the diary? Edie and her explanation, looking after George, his controlling and domination? Her having no outlet except the diary? Nancy, her upset, walking out and driving off?
6. Edie in the photos with her father, the mountain? The inspiration, the phone call for Nancy, packing up, the money, the train journey, her hesitation, continuing on? At Inverness, being knocked over by Jonny and Fiona? Their picking her up, her grumpy response? Waiting for the bus, Johnnie giving her the lift? The wrong hotel booking? Going to the other hotels and bed and breakfast? Johnnie inviting her to his house, upstairs, the raucous boys? The shop, her buying everything, the young man urging her to take Jonny as a trainer, her agreeing?
7. Jonny, his character, young, stuck in the town, work in the shop, the relationship with Fiona, her going to get the loan, her father, the aim to make the shop bigger and greater? His agreeing to take the money?
8. His taking Edie out into the countryside, explaining the situation, the base camps, getting her to exercise, his exasperation? Her dressing up in the red dress, going to the pub, the locals and their mocking her, her being knocked over, the toilet, taking off the lipstick, her resignation? The decision about climbing the mountain?
9. Her going out, her changing her mind, packing, Jonny putting her out of the vehicle, making her ride the bike, his following her? Persuading her to go? His offering to go with her, her refusal?
10. The drama of going up the mountain? Sheila Hancock doing the action and stunt work herself? Clothes, trek, the boat, the chat with the hiker, losing the oar, drifting to shore? The night in the tent, the light, reading, the music? Jonny phoning her and her reassuring him? The further climbing, the rain, exhausted, losing the tent, dropping the knapsack? Finding the hut, the fire, sleeping? The owner coming back, not saying anything, making the porridge and the tea, drying her clothes, bringing the knapsack?
11. Jonny, concerned, Fiona criticising him, the phone? His decision to follow, finding Edie, encouraging her, helping her up to the top?
12. Edie, on the mountain, steep, the rocks, climbing, looking back down interview? Jonny coming?, Going to the top, her going by herself to the cairn and placing the stone? The final close-up? Triumph?
13. The impact for a younger audience, for an older audience? Old age and its challenges? The importance of meaning and a quest?
