Keswick Film Club - Dragonfly

Synopsis

Continuing our accidental mini-strand of 'great acting duos', we have Brenda Blethyn and Andrea Riseborough, both Oscar nominees and now sharing the Best Performance award at the Tribeca Film Festival, where this film was released. When this is mixed with the talents of Paul Andrew Williams who has already made some biting social-realist films (viz 'London to Brighton' and 'Bull') you will already be getting a good feeling about 'Dragonfly'; and with good reason. As Phil de Semlyen says in Time Out, "for a study of human connection at its most honest and affecting, with two remarkable lead performances, 'Dragonfly' is a powerfully striking experience".

"Blethyn plays Elsie, an elderly woman living in a drab housing complex and tended to by caregivers who do the bare minimum to meet her needs. Her next door neighbour Colleen (Riseborough) senses that Elsie may require extra help and tries to intercede, offering to do shopping and cleaning. Elsie's son John (Jason Watkins) makes occasional appearances and seems suspicious of Colleen, but he clearly does not want to take on much of a caretaking role himself" - Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter. And we mustn't forget Colleen's dog - Sabre, a massive bull terrier. Are we being pre-emptive to think that John is right to be suspicious? When Elsie gives Colleen her credit card to buy her shopping, has she fallen for the obvious (to us) con? Could Colleen just be a caring neighbour? "It is a riveting dual portrait of two gloomy people who really have, in a strange and dysfunctional way, found a new way of interacting and - importantly - this is a triangular relationship: Elsie, Colleen and the vast Sabre" - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian. What do you think?