Tom and Gerri are about as nice a couple as you’re likely to meet in the cinema. They are loving, gentle, kind and understanding, both with others and each other. They have a son, Joe. He’s 30 years old without any serious relationship in the works. Tom and Gerri are anxious for him to settle down, but never pushy. They appear to everyone as the perfect couple without any problems. And still this is not one of those rotting from the inside relationship dramas. For all we’re presented, they are truly life partners and completely satisfied.
And yet they seem to surround themselves with unstable, morose people. There’s Mary (Lesley Manville), a colleague of Gerri’s. She gets invited round for the occasional supper (Tom and Gerri are fabulous cooks both) or small gathering. Tom’s got a brother, Ronnie (David Bradley), who we meet late in the film at his wife’s funeral. We’re told earlier that he’s mean. And his son is certainly angry at him about something. Then there’s an old school friend, Ken (Peter Wight), now overweight and drinking and smoking so much we expect him to keel over at any moment. Not only is his health poor, but he’s lost his direction and is afraid of what his inevitably impending retirement will bring.
