217. Days Of The Bagnold Summer; movie review

DAYS OF THE BAGNOLD SUMMER
Cert 12
86 mins
BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong language

Hold on a minute... a single parent librarian whose husband doesn't send maintenance lives in a big house in the Home Counties?
During Days Of The Bagnold Summer, I was distracted by the grand surroundings in which downtrodden mum, Sue (Monica Dolan), lives with her wretchedly miserable and rude teenage son, Daniel (Earl Cave).
Perhaps it occupied too many of my thoughts because I wasn't attracted by the central story of a lovelorn but hard-working mum desperately trying to find a slice of joy in her humdrum life.
Dowdy Sue is a sucker for even the smallest compliment because she has been so starved of them at home.
Therefore, she falls for Daniel's smarmy history teacher (Rob Brydon) when he asks her for a date.
However, the majority of the movie surrounds her desperation to find common ground with her ultra-petulant son.
As a parent whose son also had his moments during tricky teenage years, I had empathy for Sue and rising anger at Daniel.
However, the longer the film went on, the less her wet lettuce approach appealed.
Indeed, my problems with Days Of The Bagnold Summer were that I didn't find it funny and both characters grated.
Unfortunately, Brydon only has a cameo so isn't able to stamp his mark on the film.
That's a pity because it needs a counterbalance to the dismal heaviness of Daniel and Sue who is consistently in denial about his ghastly behaviour.
Much has been made of this being the directorial debut of The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird but those expecting the similar levels of wit and laugh-out-loud moments are in for a disappointment.

Reasons to watch: A bit of parental pathos
Reasons to avoid: No laugh-out-loud moments

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 4.5/10

Did you know? According to Payscale.com, an experienced librarian with ten to 19 years' experience earns an average total annual earnings of £23,344. 

The final word. Simon Bird: " “I think my original vision for it was much closer to the book. We talked about doing a square aspect ratio like the square panels in the book and talked about doing it in black and white – just making it a scuzzy, grungier affair. For various reasons, we decided that wasn't the best route. The main one being that what I love about the book is that the explicit point of it, stated in the first line of the book, is to tell the story of two ordinary people whose story wouldn’t normally be told." The Skinny

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