“When Did You Last See Your Father?” is a polite, emotionally rewarding film based on Blake Morrison’s 1993 autobiography, about a young boy’s confusion about his father which escalated into a seething resentment when he hit his adolescent years, and now that they are both adults, all the painful memories and festering despondency come to the surface when a harsh reality comes to pass. Eloquent in its sense of balance, matching manipulative sentimentality with resonant human emotion in its truest form, the film is a slow-paced, thought-provoking pleasure that could not have been crafted more stunningly.

Drifting in between past and present, the film opens in 1989 when Blake (Colin Firth) is a successful poet living a seemingly satisfying adult life. Nothing is what it seems at first glance, and as we weave in and out of Blake’s past we become aware of his resentment of his father Arthur (Jim Broadbent), stemming from his persistent wit and charm which meant that Arthur could get whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it; a narcissistic, selfish abuser who never seems to know right from wrong. Arthur mocks and teases his son playfully, which may work in some father/son relationships, but Blake was a sensitive and introverted child, making it nearly impossible for him not to be affected. The two could not have been more different, and neither one of them would try to adapt to create a symbiotic relationship, but understandably so. Director Anand Tucker wastes very little time in establishing the source of Blake’s internal angst that he could never quite shake off. We are transported into the mind and soul of Blake, deep inside where his turmoil began rising from such an early age, and how his naive misperceptions got the better of him. But it is all a matter of perception, and the film successfully explores the fact that a person is never as one-sided as they may appear at first.

When Blake learns that his father has fallen ill with cancer, he makes his way home in order to comfort his mother Kim (Juliet Stevenson), who had always been publicly humiliated by Arthur the way Blake was, as well as to attempt to make some sort of reconciliation with a man he never quite understood, and never once respected. This sudden change in circumstances forces Blake to re-examine his own memories and feelings, hence the episodic flashbacks which are both idiosyncratic and fundamental in the viewers ability to understand or sympathise with all involved. Instead of running away from his past and the man he had always wanted to escape from, he places himself in the foreground of something he had always wished for, his father’s death. Now he has one last chance to make the most of the unexpected gift, if you will, which is that of making things right in the haunting moments of finality.

Colin Firth’s affectingly internal deconstruction of a damaged man is unlike any performance he has ever given, only coming to terms with his estrangement from his father because he feels as if he has no other choice. Contrasting him is the always charming and buoyant Jim Broadbent, who is also given more to work with than we are used to in terms of an evocation of a father who is neither a monster nor a perfect parent, but one who feels so empty that he needs to feel so close to everyone and tries to develop this proximity no matter what. Not everyone can understand that – obscuring his decency with his over-emphasised depravity that Blake sees in him. One reason the characters in the film are so fascinating is because we are not given one straight synopsis of who they are – we witness as they transform or as different, unseen qualities drift to the surface as perspectives and times change. Tucker’s ability to craft subtle, yet universal portraits of wavering family dynamics has never been better executed, and the passion and devotion he is able to get out of his actors allows for a fluid deviation from conventional tales of father and son relationships. It also helps that Broadbent and Firth look remarkably alike, and one particular shot in the film confirms this.

“When Did You Last See Your Father?” is a heart wrenching, impartial take on relentlessly uneven family dynamics that never seems entirely original because the story at the centre of it all has a universal resonance, one that can still manage to mean something different to everyone. Right up until it’s neatly tied up, tear-jerking conclusion, the film never offers easy answers or easy ways out, anchoring its drama in affecting realism, nuanced and well-paced, technically stunning with its crisp, warm cinematography and poignant score. Offering a simple resolution would be unbefitting to such an intelligent depiction of lifelong regret that allows the viewer to come up with their own answers to the question stated in the film’s title, and even that has more to it than one might imagine at first.

Fatac Rating: ***½

When Did You Last See Your Father? Directed by Anand Tucker. Written by David Nicholls based on the autobiography “And When Did You Last See Your Father?” by Blake Morrison. Cinematography by Howard Atherton. Music by Barrington Pheloung. Running Time: 92 minutes. Age Restriction: PG 13. Rating out of five stars.

Released in the United States on the 6th of June, opening in South Africa on the 8th of August.