How about You is adapted from a short story by famed author Maeve Binchy, Ireland’s most widely read and internationally successful writer of popular fiction. With her trademark wit, charm and sheer storytelling genius she has written a story about the lives of four senior citizens battling against their own demons, preconceptions and phobias about getting old.
‘Hope I die before I get old’, The Who sang. Paul McCartney wondered if he’d still be loved, ‘when I’m 64’. But today, aging rock stars and contemporary society are reconsidering their perceptions of being old, A belief that we have choices and potential not just in our early years, but right though life, is at the centre of How about You.
Mixing humor and pathos, How about You tells the story of Ellie (Hayley Atwell- Brideshead Revisited, The Duchess), a footloose and fearless young woman who is left in charge of a residential home for senior citizens owned and run by her older sister Kate (Orla Brady), over the Christmas holiday season.
Ellie’s heartwarming friendship with wheelchair bound Alice (Joan O’Hara), in the twilight of her life, begins Ellie’s journey into adulthood. Her youth and inexperience brings her into bitter conflict with the four grumpy old residents known as the “hardcore”: retired screen beauty Georgia (Vanessa Redgrave), spinster sisters Hazel (Imelda Staunton) and Heather (Brenda Fricker), and a reformed alcoholic judge, Donald (Joss Ackland). The film deals with the hilarious antics of these uncivilized seniors, and the gradual solidarity that develops between the residents and Ellie.
How about You is the often funny and deeply human story of growing self-acceptance. A story where an unlikely group of characters develop relationships which are not only surprising, but transformative. It is a film filled with compelling performances and vivid individuals, as we discover the rejuvenating power of other people. --© Strand Releasing
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