Film review
Beautiful Scottish scenery and fine British acting give weight to this story of an elderly hiker.
Edie Directed by Simon Hunter. Starring Sheila Hancock and Kevin Guthrie.
The tag line for this film says “It’s never too late” and this could just as easily apply to the career-best performance from the lead actress as it does to the central heart of the story.
Awarded twice for her services to drama in Britain (OBE and CBE) from a career spanning five decades, Sheila Hancock
(The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas/Bedtime) brings all that and more to the titular role of Edie. It’s just a wee shame the film itself isn’t a sum of all its parts.
Edie is 83 and recently widowed.
Almost before the body of her late husband is cold, and to the shock and disappointment of her only daughter, Edie immediately packs a very old backpack and hiking stove and hightails it for the remote Scottish Highlands.
With most of her adult life spent under her husband’s thumb or as his full-time nurse, she’s a boiling cauldron of mixed emotions and she’s not afraid to share them. And one thing is clear, once Edie reaches Inverness she is well out of her depth.
Her sights are set on climbing Suilven, all 731m of it and one of Scotland’s most iconic peaks. But with zero fitness and about the same amount of experience under her belt, she’ll need help, and asking for help is not one of Edie’s strong points.
Fortunately, she bumps into a local guide (as in quite literally bumps into him) and against his better judgement and thanks to his wheeler-dealer best mate, Jonny (Kevin Guthrie) takes on Edie as a client, promising to teach her everything she needs to know and to help her make the climb to the summit of Suilven.
There is a lot going on here in terms of clashes of culture, class and age. Both characters have their own inner turmoil and neither of them plays well with others. But as they get to know each other, pitching their separate tents against the serene backdrop of the glorious Highland scenery, the opportunity to really get into the heart of that friendship is mostly a wasted one, with just a glimmer of what could have been. There was a far stronger film begging to be released into the Scottish wilds here, and both Hancock and Guthrie would have been up for that challenge too. The flip-flop tonally, from confronting to more mainstream, is a major weakness and ultimately an oftentimes awkward disappointment.
On the plus side, it’s not just Hancock’s heartfelt, hefty performance that saves Edie from the DVD bargain bin – it’s worth noting the intoxicating Scottish scenery is in fact a character all of its own. If, like me, you hail from a kilt-wearing lineage, you’ll find your ancestry will lend itself to the enjoyment here, and I also know more than a few devoted lifelong trampers and hikers who will relate to a quest like Edie’s and who will get much out of her story and the views.