OFF THE RAILS

UK, 2021, 94 minutes, Colour.

Jenny Seagrove, Sally Phillips, Kelly Preston, Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips, Judi Dench, Peter Bowles, Ben Miller, Martin Shaw, Franco Nero.

Directed by Jules Williamson.

The title indicates where this film is going – off the rails! However, it could have just as well been called Girls Trip, Girls (Many) Nights Out. The target audience, very quickly established, is female, of an indeterminate age. There are various clues early in the piece: the explanation for the soundtrack, more than a dozen songs by Blondie, their favourite when they were young – and they are now at grandmother age, menopause discussions.

It is fair to add a comment from an IMDb blogger that challenges male perspectives on the film: ‘I also secretly love that middle aged male critics don't get it. This one is for us!’

This is one of those stories where women friends from the past who have grown rather apart, have some secrets, also some resentments, are brought together on the occasion of the death of one of their friends. The film has some sobriety at the beginning with Judi Dench offering a eulogy at the funeral of her daughter, some moments of Peter Bowles as the vicar. And, at the ceremony, the deceased woman’s daughter, Maddie, 18, plays the organ and a song which the three friends are able to sing.

There is a credit for the “original story” which seems rather a stretch. We have seen this kind of film before, the dead woman leaving tickets for her three friends to take her daughter to relive one of the trips of the past, the goal in Palma Cathedral.

It is a long time since the three were friends, back in the travelling days, back in the Blondie days, drinking, kicking over the traces. They are not quite like that now. Kate, Jenny Seagrove, is rather serious and solemn. Cassie, an American, is the longtime star of a television show, moody and peremptory when she wants to. She is played by Kelly Preston in her last role and the film is dedicated to her. There is some enjoyment with Sally Phillips who was settled down to marriage and ordinary life (but about to be shocked by her husband). Maddie is played by newcomer, Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips.

So, some random adventures with comic touches, especially when they miss quite a number of trains, when a train breaks down, when they miss the ferry to Palma… And sequences in Paris, especially a potential spree in a fashionable dress shop, nightclubs, the encounter with a British guitarist, and then a train into Italy, the one that breaks down. On board there is a young man who attracts Maddie’s attention, more than attention. And there is a pregnant woman, the passengers all trek along the train lines and out into the field, helping her give birth, Liz acting as midwife. Consequent rejoicing, a huge party, outdoors, in the town, where the mayor turns out to be Franco Nero.

More adventures, more missed trains, and the missing of the ferry, Franco Nero coming to the rescue with a World War II plane flying them to Spain, the guitarist turning up with his motorbike so that they get to the Cathedral.

And, the sun shining and reflecting through the rose window of the Cathedral is a beautiful site.

Seems a slight entertainment. However, it would also seem that for those who identify with the characters, a good show.

1. Target audience? Women? Middle-aged? A European holiday? In memory of the past?
2. London settings, the city, the village church, Paris, shops and restaurants, Italy, nightclubs, the sea, Barcelona, the airport, Palma, the Cathedral?
3. The musical score? Use of many Blondie songs?
4. The introduction to Kate, lacking money at the ATM, Cassie and her moods at the television, Liz, at home? The phone calls, the information about Anna’s death?
5. The church, the congregation, the vicar and his words, Maddie playing the organ, the women singing, Anna’s mother, her eulogy and regrets, giving the tickets to the women?
6. The situation, tickets, reliving the past, taking Maddie to experience their past and her mother’s past?
7. The personalities of the three women, Kate, relationships in the past, betrayals, Cassie still having her letters for the custody hearings, jobs, money, reserve? Cassie, American, the television show, moodiness? Liz, her husband, children, phone calls, the discovery of the betrayal by her husband?
8. Maddie, 18, looking after her mother, not finishing her education? Eagerness to go on the trip?
9. Eccentricities, personalities, money issues, on the trains, accommodation, Paris, going to the shop, all the dresses, their treatment of the saleswoman, the cutting up the credit card, Cassie putting the ash on her upper lip, Hitler?
10. Clubs, dancing, memories of the past? Meeting Dan, the guitar, the drinking, the karaoke and Kate’s singing? The upset in the club, Liz breaking her wrist, with the police, surly attitudes, cuffing Cassie, the policeman recognising her from the television series? The selfies?
11. On the train, to Italy, the quest to go to Palma? The train breaking down, the birthing sequence? Everybody’s gratitude? To the celebration, the mayor and his speeches, the young man on the train and the attraction to Maddie? The mayor, the welcome to Cassie, her staying the night, saying nothing happened?
12. Being late for the train again, the upsets, telling Liz the truth? Maddie going off, getting a lift to Palma? The brainwave, asking Giovanni for help, the old plane and the pilot, phoning Dan, the bike, their arriving in the city, in the Cathedral, with Maddie again? The beauty of the light through the rose windows?
13. Maddie, the necklace, her mother’s ashes, the difficulties at the French customs, giving the ashes to each of the women, scattering them? Mission accomplished?