200. That Good Night; movie review

THAT GOOD NIGHT
Cert 12A
92 mins
BBFC advice: Contains references to assisted dying

Have you ever been to a football testimonial?
They are staged in honour of a veteran player who has shown great loyalty to his club and are played between two star teams who put on a bit of an exhibition.
Basically, it is a friendly match with a chance for the top players to showboat and for the subject to belt in a goal or two which have been laid on a plate.
If movie studios did football-style testimonials, Eric Styles' That Good Night would be it.
It gives John Hurt the chance to rekindle his old swagger for one last time and leave us being thankful for all his wonderful performances of the past.
Hurt died from cancer before That Good Night had been completed.
This makes his performance many-fold more poignant and memorable than is otherwise would have been.
In truth, this movie skates slowly across a beautiful Portuguese backdrop without much happening.
Hurt plays Ralph Maitland, an acclaimed author who has a terminal illness unknown to even his beautiful much younger wife (Sofia Helin).
This may account for his ghastly attitude towards almost all around him, particularly his son (Max Brown) who he has summoned to his villa and turns up with an uninvited girlfriend (Erin Richards).
As suggested, That Good Night doesn't really add up to a hill of beans but, through Maitland's spikiness, we can see shards of Hurt's brilliance.
A different side to his range is seen when he is confronted by a mysterious visitor, played by Charles Dance.
In isolation, I would not recommend That Good Night but, because it becomes a must-see because it is the end of an era which has given us so much.
John Hurt deserves all of his tributes and I like to think of him responding to them as Elephant Man saying: "You've all been very, very kind."

Reasons to watch: Sir John Hurt's last film
Reasons to avoid: It really doesn't add up to much

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6/10

Director quote - Eric Styles: "He did confide to me that he felt unusually close to his character, a demanding and irascible man, desperate to reconnect with his family and make amends for past transgressions before it was too late."

The big question - Will cinema ever see the likes of John Hurt again?

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