The popular appeal of Kate Winslet should boost the claims for attention of another beautifully observed work from Gillies MacKinnon, a slight but sweet adaptation of Esther Freud's semi-autobiographical novel. Liberated from the waist-clinching gowns and tragic, watery ordeals of her last four films, a glowing Winslet is delightful, presenting a warm, amusing, touchingly vulnerable and untogether but admirably brave character.
Poverty, the elusiveness of the imagined mystical fulfilment, cat fights with the exotic prostitute neighbours, disenchantment and a string of disasters make for a funny, sad and anxious odyssey in a slender, anecdotal tale. Julia's relationship with a charming Arab rogue, Bilal (Taghmaoui) adds sexual heat, charisma and, vitally, some dramatic backbone as his own story of woes and his increasingly dangerous efforts to help Julia and her daughters balances the girlish dynamic. The two child actors are real finds - enchanting, eccentric and natural, a good match for Winslet who barely looks old enough to have given birth to them.