Song for Marion

Off straight from work to a pre-view of "Song for Marion" at the Odeon Wimbledon, which is only a few minutes' walk from the station - quite an important point when the weather is so inclement and there is no guarantee that there won't be more snow.   In the event, the pavements in the High Street in Wimbledon had all been swept, and apart from a few little piles of snow on the edges, there was little evidence of the snow that had fallen the previous day.

The film started at 6.30 p.m. sharp, with no advertisements or previews of forthcoming events beforehand.   When I got there about 6.15 p.m., the auditorium was almsot full, with none of the seats nexgt to the aisles available - despite my preference for looking straight at the screen, I had to settle for a seat a little bit to the side, although not too far to the side to be uncomfortable.

"Song for Marion" stars Terence Stamp as a grumpy old man, who just about tolerates his sick wife, played by Vanessa Redgrave, going to a local community choir called the OAPZ, run by energetic and enthuastic Gemma Arterton.   When she dies of cancer, he is gradually drawn into joining the choir himself, after the conductor gets him to sing, but is still very grumpy and hardly speaking to his son  and granddaughter.   The choir, who under their conductor have boundless enthusiasm, although not necessarily a communsurate level of talent, enter a competition, with Terence Stamp as a leading member, who is to sing a solo on the night.  

After almost withdrawing from the event, as they are so different to all the other very polished looking choirs, Terence goes on to the stage unannounced to sing his song, followed by the conductor, and then the whole choir, dressed not in the usual white tops and dark bottoms, but a variety of weird costumes, which very definitely set them apart from everyone else.

Needless to say, their somewhat unusual performance gains them first place, and they return home jubilant.    Terence Stamp comes finally to realise that life can be good and is at last reconciled with his son.

The whole film was very English and full of the "feel good" factor.    Although most of the characters, apart from the young conductor, were old, they had character and were active in mind, if not necessarily in body.  Gemma Arterton was an inspiring choir mistress, full of life and almost with a mission to bring music to the elderly, whom she loved workign with.

I tried to see where it was shot - it was obviously up North somewhere - but couldn't identify any of the places, and the credits at the end simply said "Shot on location".