A Family Affair

A sweet if somewhat inconsequential entry into the annals of English comedy, Warren Fischer’s A Family Affair – no relation to the Nicole Kidman film set for release later in the year – makes the bold move of setting up a farce with tough economic realities and grief at its core. Set in an undisclosed rural location and populated by English television actors, it explores territory which will feel uncomfortably close to home for many viewers, but does so with a warmth and light-heartedness which hints at ways of coping and, perhaps, moving on.

Edward (Joe Wilkinson) has put everything into his dream hotel, a little island of tranquillity which, with the aid of hippy guru Rhys (Colin Hoult), he markets as a spiritual retreat – but whilst they’re running naked yoga sessions in the garden, customers are running to review sites to complain about everything imaginable. His inbox is full of complaints, he’s been losing money for months, and now the bank wants to foreclose on the place. Worse, he still hasn’t shared any of these problems with his loving wife Helen (Laura Aikman). if he can just hold on for one more day, her parents can celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary there – but unfortunately, the bank wants to auction off the place on the same day. Can he keep people apart successfully enough to give Helen one more day of happiness?

Complicating all this is a cast of characters including Edward’s recently widowed father and his glamorous young ‘care worker’, a stressed-out businessman who wants to turn the place into a fox hunting retreat, and a guest who manages to die at exactly the wrong time. There’s also an unexpectedly valuable painting, plus an unfortunately located dildo and a suitcase of money which fails to stay put. In other words, there are all the ingredients of a classic English comedy, and yet somehow the whole thing lacks the spark necessary to bring it to life. We watch the characters scampering around, going through the motions in a familiar way, but the laughs are few and far between, the tension that one would expect of a farce curiously absent.

The film has its moments and it’s always nice to see writers willing to take on this sort of thing in place of the more aggressive comedy which has dominated over the past decade, but unfortunately it just doesn’t deliver the way it should. You may like these people but you won’t remember them.