In one of his final roles, the late Sir John Hurt plays a terminally ill writer struggling to come to terms with his own mortality, to rebuild the wreckage of his family and to die with some semblance of dignity.
Two-time Academy Award nominee Hurt (The Elephant Man, Midnight Express) plays Ralph Maitland, a once famous writer whose two final missions are to be reconciled with his long-abandoned son, Michael (Max Brown, The Tudors) and to secretly ensure that he won’t become a burden to his younger, devoted second wife Anna (Sofia Helin, The Bridge).
Bringing Michael to his beautiful Portuguese villa, Ralph manages to ruin things by immediately picking a fight with his son’s girlfriend, Cassie (Erin Richards, Gotham). Now the clock is ticking, as Ralph has invited a mysterious ‘visitor’ (Charles Dance, Game of Thrones) to provide him with a painless end to his life.
Adapted from N.J. Crisp’s acclaimed 1996 stage-play, this enthralling film shows a master storyteller at the pinnacle of his powers – and showcases the talents of Dance and Hurt as these seasoned thespians grapple eloquently with questions of mortality.
