Never has song been used so poignantly as in this painful, yet curiously fond recollection of postwar Liverpool from director Terence Davies.
Davies draws on family memories and experiences of Liverpool during the 1940s and 50s, and the popular tunes that punctuate the ritualistic round of family gatherings and pub sing-songs jarringly counterpoint the irrational violence meted out by short-fused father Pete Postlethwaite.
Unflinchingly depicting both the beatings and their consequences, Davies brings a bruising realism to the stylised series of vignettes, which adeptly avoid the patronising tone that jaundices so many portraits of working-class life.
He followed this haunting film with the even more remarkable The Long Day Closes.
Mother
Freda Dowie Father
Pete Postlethwaite Eileen
Angela Walsh Tony
Dean Williams Maisie
Lorraine Ashbourne Jingles
Marie Jelliman Eileen as a child
Sally Davies Tony as a child
Nathan Walsh Maisie as a child
Susan Flanagan Dave
Michael Starke George
Vincent Maguire Rose
Antonia Mallen Micki
Debi Jones
Director
Terence Davies
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