Mr Morgan's Last Love

Stars: Michael Caine, Clemence Poesy, Justin Kirk, Michele Goddet, Jane Alexander, Anne Alvaro, Gillian Anderson

Director: Sandra Nettelbeck

Its hard to figure out just why Michael Caine chose to act his age (81) and star in this mawkish morass of clichés and melodrama.

Surely he couldnt have needed the money?

True, he filmed it in France but surely by now if he really wanted to see Paris he could well afford a trip without having to bother himself with working his way through director Sandra Nettelbecks slack screenplay based on the novel La douceur assassine by Francoise Dorner.

Caine, first seen sporting a scruffy white beard and piling up unread newspapers in his Parisian flat, spends much of his time grieving for his dead wife, played in sometimes uncomfortably uneasy flashbacks by Jane Alexander. He travels everywhere by bus: there meets lovely young dance teacher Clémence Poésy who gives the staggering octogenarian a helping hand, leading to a growing friendship (Caine shaves off his beard and even does some accurately embarrassing daddy dancing) which helps him to come to terms with his wifes death and even to bond again with his neglected son Justin Kirk

Paris looks lovely, as usual, its beauty simply serving to underline the clichéd banality of the whole, seemingly never-ending affair. And, I regret to say, I found Caine even more discomforting to watch than when he cried when, playing the noble butler, he watched Batman being buried.

Alan Frank

Germany/Belgium/USA/France 2013. UK Distributor: Arrow Film Distributors. Colour.
116 minutes. not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 2.

Review date: 05 Jul 2014