Tender Loving Care, the “sublime” British drama starring Widow’s Bay favourite Kate O’Flynn, has debuted with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Written and directed by Mike Leigh, the comedy-drama follows O’Flynn as Amy, a social worker who moves in with her upbeat best friend Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson), also a social worker.
As the friends navigate life together through work, dating, and family, Amy’s ageing parents worry about their daughter while facing a crisis of their own.
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Set in contemporary London, the film stars Marion Bailey and Paul Jesson alongside Johnson and O’Flynn, who fans will recognise as the breakout character Patricia in the Apple TV series Widow’s Bay.
Following its world premiere at the 53rd Telluride Film Festival, the first reviews for Tender Loving Care are now in, and critics have been impressed.
The film, which is also playing at the BFI London Film Festival in October, has debuted with a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from 11 reviews.
Little White Lies said: “These cosy vignettes of domestic life are thrilling in their mundanity, recognisable as a shared experience for family units (biological or otherwise) the world over.”
“We are not approaching a big monologue moment of explosive emotional catharsis. The storm, as so often with Leigh, rumbles towards us and then rumbles back over the horizon. And yet the sadness and the love stayed with me long after the closing credits,” wrote The Guardian.
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Variety said of the film: “Leigh doesn’t make any wrong moves here; just about every scene in the movie plays. Yet Tender Loving Care builds (or maybe I should say recedes) to something more schematic than it is powerful.”
“Spartan and straightforward, absent plot complication but awash in pointillistic detail, this so-called swan song collects its attention into a bracingly humane look at conflicting networks of care,” wrote IndieWire.
The Wrap said: “It’s a gentle little gem, in no hurry to get anywhere – and if it does turn out to be Leigh’s final film, as he has suggested, it will stand as a touching and apt sendoff to a movie-business unicorn.”
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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.