It was the cast that convinced me to see this one (directed by Sally Potter); Kristin Scott Thomas is at the centre of things (and she is always pretty good), but Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy and Patricia Clarkson are all reliably delightful, and the prospect of seeing them all in a satire of modern English mores - in a political context no less (the occasion is a dinner party celebrating Thomas's character's appointment as shadow health minister) - was appealing. And it was fun - a thoroughly minor bagatelle, but a sharp-toothed one that doesn't outstay its welcome (at 71 minutes) and has welcome elements of farce as well as a piggy-backed elegance arising from the choice to shoot in black and white. Clarkson definitely the MVP, all articulately waspish cynicism wrapped around genuine solicitude.
