Played by the always enigmatic Samantha Morton, the eponymous Morvern Callar is a blank page waiting to be written on. When her boyfriend takes his own life, she seizes what he has written - the manuscript for a novel - and decides to pass it off to a publisher as her own work; but first she must dispose of his body.
There is a sense throughout the film that it is Morvern's actual life, just as much as it is her dream life of wealth and freedom, that truly begins from that moment on. Like a child or an ethereal being, everything she encounters in the course of the film - from an understanding of herself as a sexual being attractive to others, to more simpler things such as music her boyfriend left her and the nature that so entrances her in the rural areas of Scotland and Spain ("I like the ants" she naively tells her publishers) - seems as if to be for the first time. Her backstory is kept elusively brief - she mentions at one point that she was brought up in foster care - and her role as an Englishwoman in Scotland (a decision that differs from the original novel) only adds to this sense of the enigmatic and of someone never really belonging or existing. If it wasn't for her longstanding friendship with Lanna (Kathleen McDermott, who was spotted by the film's casting director whilst working as a hairdresser) the audience could be forgiven for thinking that this strange, near-emotionless protagonist had beamed down from the skies just a few seconds before the opening credits commenced.
Directed by Lynne Ramsay, Morvern Caller is an expressive visual and aural mood piece treat and first class filmmaking with near-dreamy scenes (Morvern walking through the supermarket she works in as Lee Hazlewood's Some Velvet Morning emanates from her walkman to fill the soundtrack, stumbling across a village festival in the mountains of Spain, those opening moments with the flashing Christmas tree, the and Morvern's unnaturally calm cutting up and disposing of the body - the graphic nature of which is wisely left to the imagination; no Shallow Grave-like horror here, despite its mutual Scottish setting) that linger long in the memory.
Some people don't like this. Some people are dicks.
Oh and there's a neat in-joke concerning Alwin Küchler, the film's German cinematographer, that you have to listen out for.
Perhaps because I am a non-driver, I do not possess the instinctive hatred for traffic wardens that many in society do. To me, they're just people earning a wage like anyone else. However, my opinion may change if I ever met a traffic warden like Jason Patric's here in Expired, Cecilia Miniucchi's fresh and bittersweet indie take on the romantic comedy genre. He really is the most astounding, grotesque bully of a creation, brilliantly brought to life by Patric.
Expired tells the story of two very ordinary, uncharismatic characters who are ostensibly outcasts of society in both their temperament and their work as traffic wardens. Samantha Morton draws beautifully on her natural vulnerability to play the well meaning and good natured Claire, a instinctively kind soul whose job means that her kindness is not always returned. In sharp contrast is her colleague Jay, played by Patric, an angry ultra-macho male who seems to use his job as an outlet for all his aggression and the frustrations he feels about the world and his life. Both are despairing and lonely and both engage in an unlikely, awkward romance.
Expired is very much in the traditions of Mike Leigh in that it is a comedy that mines its humour from social awkwardness (also known as 'cringe comedy', a somewhat rebranded style that reached its apex as a popular genre thanks to Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant) and at times its humour evokes reactions that have you both laughing and taking a sharp intake of breath at how inappropriate and unfair it is. It's the kind of film I imagine some would watch with their hands up to their faces, and that's something of a Leigh tradition in itself, harking all the way back to Bleak Moments. Indeed, it's easy to identify both Claire and Jay as typically Leigh characters - Indeed, you could amuse yourself imagining Expired as a late 70s/early 80s Play For Today set in bleak, drizzly London as opposed to a Christmassy LA, and starring Phil Davis and Janine Duvitski.
I've seen some really unfair criticisms for this film. Many argue that characters like Claire and Jay do not exist, but they really, truly do, and that Miniucchi provides no explanation as to why Claire puts herself through this ordeal. Well, these critics mustn't have been watching with their full attention as its clear from the heartbreaking question she poses to her mute, wheelchair bound stroke debilitated mother along the lines of whether it is better to have something (ie an unsatisfactory relationship with someone she constantly has to second guess and be on eggshells with) than nothing at all. Likewise many claim that Claire simply would not put up with Jay but, as we know all too well, abusive relationships do exist out there unfortunately.
This is a poignant and very funny film exploring two people coming to terms with their needs and longings in a crazy, tough world with no easy answers. In short, it's perhaps too much like reality for some to enjoy. It's not a perfect journey, there are no happy endings, life just goes on as Claire concludes.
"There's an endearing childlike quality about you Frank," says the PM Harold Wilson, as played by Robert Pugh, to Broadbent's Longford early on in the film "But no one wants a child in cabinet" he adds.
It's a statement that kind of sums up the man really; an (all too) innocent figure who refused to see the evil in others; even Myra Hindley. His philosophy was in its way admirable (visiting prisoners up and down the country until his death aged 95) if a little too optimistic, and therein was his downfall.
Broadbent gives another great and textured portrait of a real figure in society, occasionally hinting at a child like ego within the man; a secret delight at being a lone voice against the crowd. He's ably supported by a host of British character actors including Lindsey Duncan as his often long suffering wife and Samantha Morton as Hindley, who must gain credit for playing a vile monster as a human, whilst never stopping us from forgetting the evil within; indeed her attempts at seeking forgiveness consistently have us questioning an ulterior motive, something Longford never does, and it is one that Morton is clever enough an actress to tacitly suggest and underplay to the audience throughout. More unrelentingly honest is the warts and all, unflinching and uncompromising depiction of evil Andy Serkis provides as Ian Brady.
Written by Peter Morgan (The Queen, The Deal etc) this is the kind of gem Channel 4 often produce, though admittedly it's getting rarer these days alas. Broadcast in 2006, a few years after the deaths of Lord Longford and Hindley in '01 and '02 respectively, it has never been repeated or released in the UK on DVD - It is I believe available on Region 1 DVD and on 4OD, the latter being where I have rewatched.
As a man who was born and raised and continues to live in the North West, I'm all too well aware of the shadow the Moors Murders cast upon the region, and as someone who worked in a charity for ex offenders - responsible for the female offender project and seeing and hearing similar crimes - and who believes in rehabilitation for offenders (though, unlike Lord Longford, I believe that some crimes and their perpetrators are irredeemable I hasten to add) Longford is a film that cannot be ignored, even if it is a hard yet ultimately gripping watch.
