When their father dies, two grown sisters must suddenly deal with his young widow in this psychological drama from Britain. Already estranged, the two are further pitted against one another as their stepmother plots to destroy them. Based on the stage play by David Hare.

When their father dies, two estranged British sisters -- one a hard-nosed Thatcherite capitalist, the other a warm-hearted liberal -- forge an uneasy reconciliation. As they try to put their father's affairs into order, the sisters must deal with the burden of their emotionally disturbed, alcoholic young stepmother Katherine. Isobel, always the magnanimous one, reluctantly decides to give Katherine a job in her graphic design company. It is an act of kindness that turns out to be highly destructive; under Katherine's influence, Isobel's career and personal life dissolve into chaos and violence.

Rated BBFC 15 by the British Board of Film Classification.

Shot in Eastmancolor and Dolby.

Produced in association with The National Film Trustee Company.

Additional credits: Paula Garr (production coordinator), Rachel Neale (location manager), Marion Weise (wardrobe supervisor), Mike Dempsey (titles), Mark Thomas (Patrick's illustrations), Robert McCann and Ann McEwan (makeup artists), Peter Best (sound editor), and John Wolstenholme (sound rerecordist).

Additional cast: Neil Pearson (Patrick Steadman), Milton McRae (Norman), and Robert Glenister (Jeremy).

DVD Features:

Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
(unspecified) - English

Juliet Stevenson: British Actress
Joanne Whalley: British actress
Penelope Wilton: British film & television actress, SHAUN OF THE DEAD
Neil Pearson: Actor
Alan Howard: British Actor

Howard Davies: Director/"Secret Rapture"

"...What emerges -- thanks especially to the passionate complexity of Juliet Stevenson's performance -- is a study of goodness as selfishness in its most lethal guise..."
"...Wrenching performances and dark, clammy atmosphere cast an unsettling chill....[The film's power] lies in the lurching unpredictability of its story..."