Living Parent Guide

Rodney Williams (Bill Nighy) leads a life of stultifying conformity and monotony. Each day, clad in his dark suit and bowler hat, he boards the train for London and his job shuffling paper for the public works department. Each evening, he returns to the home he shares with his son and shrewish daughter-in-law. The pattern continues until his doctor gives bad news: Williams has inoperable cancer and only six months to live.

The shock of this diagnosis forces Williams to assess his life and he comes to some depressing conclusions. Realizing that he has never really lived, he empties half of his bank account, goes AWOL from work, and sets off to the seaside for some fun. When “wine, women, and song” don’t fill the emptiness in his heart, Williams takes another look at himself. He discovers that he craves the vivacity of his young employee, Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood) and that he needs a sense of meaning in his work. No longer will he be content to put off decisions and hoard files: he’s going to make a difference in the world before he dies.

There’s no question that the best part of this film is Bill Nighy. The legendary British thespian brings all his skill to this role, imbuing Williams with a quiet, dignified melancholy. He perfectly embodies the “stiff upper lip” so beloved of the British and raises repression to an art form. His introspection successfully comes across on screen and his changes in behavior and habits are completely believable.

The ensemble cast also rise to the occasion. Williams dies partway through the film and the rest of his story is told through the lives of the people around him. There are some genuinely touching moments, but a few clunkers where the script isn’t as good as the cast. At times the dialogue feels forced; as if it were written to emphasize the point the screenwriter is making and not like it springs organically from the character. This feels inauthentic and breaks the sense of immersion that is key to really living a film instead of just watching it.

As for negative content, it’s fairly limited and the movie comes in at a low PG-13 level. Some adults smoke, but that was historically accurate in the 1950s, and there are multiple episodes of heavy drinking and intoxication. There is also a scene involving a stripper, but there is no explicit nudity and she is only visible from the back when she removes her bra. The absence of violence and profanity is certainly a welcome change given their ubiquity in almost every other film produced this year.

Living isn’t a movie for everyone. It’s quiet and thoughtful and is devoid of action pieces. It’s about a man who finally recognizes the walls that constrain his life and who has the courage to knock them down. Since this doesn’t involve superpowers it might not gain a lot of traction with mass audiences, but viewers who want to cheer on a man who changes his own world will appreciate Bill Nighy’s take on that important work.