Edie

In Edie, the vet­er­an actor Sheila Han­cock is on career-best form as a woman – also named Edie – scorned by a suf­fo­cat­ing mar­riage of 30 years, des­per­ate to make up for lost time. Her husband’s death sends her on a quest for redis­cov­ery that so hap­pens to include scal­ing one of Scotland’s most chal­leng­ing mountains.

Simon Hunter’s lat­est fea­ture (his first since 2008’s sci-fi adven­ture Mutant Chron­i­cles), which pre­miered to stand­ing ova­tions at last year’s Edin­burgh Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val, is inspir­ing and attrac­tive­ly shot to make full use of its set­ting. The rocky ter­rain reflects the hard­ships life has thrown at Edie, while the beau­ty sig­nalling hope and opti­mism for the future.

It has the mak­ings of a wel­come-to-Scot­land advert at times, but Han­cock always steers the film back on track. Edie’s life up until now has been con­sumed by her hus­band and his ill­ness. But now, at the age of 84, she’s packed her bags and high­tailed it to the high­lands with a steely deter­mi­na­tion push­ing her along even when it all seems like too much.

There’s a scene mid­way through the film where she ven­tures off alone, only to be trapped in a rain­storm, fum­bling with the mechan­ics of her tent. It’s admit­ted­ly dis­tress­ing. Her own dri­ve, how­ev­er, per­sists and is aid­ed by John­ny (Kevin Guthrie), a local moun­taineer­ing shop own­er whose ini­tial scep­ti­cism of Edie’s abil­i­ties thaw, lead­ing to a won­der­ful odd­ball rela­tion­ship between the two that awards the film a love­ly com­ic touch. He’s not so much her sav­iour, more a true friend and keen supporter.

Eliz­a­beth O’Halloran’s script works best as a char­ac­ter study, but falls short else­where, putting more respon­si­bil­i­ty on Hancock’s shoul­ders. But, true to her tal­ent, she han­dles this with poise and wit. And for that, plus the unde­ni­ably empow­er­ing mes­sage of a woman reclaim­ing her life at its core, Edie is worth the time and investment.