With a concept that is like a twisted version of The Parent Trap, director Trudie Styler‘s sly comedy with drama shows what happens when the messy unforeseen circumstances of life and death interrupt a nasty divorce. Up Against It, an apt title, had its world premiere today at the Toronto Film Festival.
Antonio Banderas stars as Alvaro, father to Rose (Eden Hamilton), a daughter he loves as much as he truly hates her mother, his about to be ex-wife Saffron (Eva Birthisle), who returns the hate and maybe magnifies it. With their divorce about to become final, the complication of complications arises when Rose’s childhood cancer appears to return in the form of leukemia. This poor girl, dealing with her failing body, now has to contend with the broken marriage of her parents on top of the new diagnosis.
Bitterly opposing each other but brought together with the realities of an urgent life-and-death situation presented by their trusted doctor (Forest Whitaker), the battling co-parents are thrust into a rather mind-boggling and radical decision: the only hope for Rose is for mom and dad to conceive another genetically matching child, to create an IVF savior sibling for her. This surprise on the eve of making their much desired breakup official brings out all the old resentments, personal wounds and recriminations, as well as a new and awkward (to say the least) need for intimacy they will have to find to unlock the love they once had as they come together to save their only child.
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In pure movie fashion we have to wonder, a la Parent Trap, if the kid can somehow bring these warring parents back together in maybe more ways than one. The complications also arise with the current partners of both Alvaro and Saffron: Arinzé Kene, playing a genuinely nice guy and a real antidote for Saffron after her turbulent marriage to Alvaro, is not quite understanding of how this could happen and how it will affect their relationship, and same problem exists for Alvaro’s new love played by Úrsula Corberó. Suddenly it is very crowded in that bed as what they all thought was ancient history and about to officially end for good is now hitting a huge roadblock.
As both parents need support from their new partners, the real issue is Rose, who faces the only medical solution that has a shot at saving her as well as an extended family that threatens to fall apart — again. The film parallels the trauma of a broken body with that of a broken home. Yes, she desperately needs to heal, but the toxic relationship of the grown-ups surrounding her might be just as awful.
The screenplay by Chloe King and Camille Griffin is an original twist on those family divorce comedies like the aforementioned Parent Trap and 1984’s Irreconcilable Differences, among others. The new wrinkle of a life-threatening illness forcing the battling parties to make a truce and warm up to each other against all odds is a clever one that is realistically played out here because both Banderas and Birthisle manage to keep the priorities front of mind for Alvaro and Saffron. There isn’t a lot of exposition or explanation as to how these two people got to the point of wanting to kill each other (figuratively, not literally), but the body language and attitudes expertly expressed by both stars tell us all we need to know. Their relationship is now a combustible and lethal one, so it takes something like childhood cancer in a young daughter conceived out of their onetime love for each other to bring them together.
Hamilton is irresistible as Rose, and Banderas and Birthistle are excellent here, as are Corberó and Kene as the confused new partners in their lives. Whitaker nicely plays the no-nonsense doctor whose priorities dictate the complex solution at hand. Richard E. Grant turns up as a friend, but the role is so brief you wonder why he would take it.
The handsome-looking film shows off London locations at their best, and Styler, with the help of a screenplay that doesn’t resort to clichés, has pulled off a smart and sophisticated story of dysfunctional adults who, in the worst of times, must learn the true definition of love and family and what really matters.
Producers are Styler, Celine Rattray and Piers Tempest.
Title: Up Against It
Festival: Toronto (Gala Presentations)
Director: Trudie Styler
Screenwriters: Chloe King and Camille Griffin
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Eva Birthisle, Eden Hamilton, Richard E. Grant, Forest Whitaker, Úrsula Corberó, Arinzé Kene
Sales agents: CAA (domestic); Beta Cinema (International)
Running time: 2 hr 2 mins
