She's Been Away (1989) (TV)

Director:

Peter Hall

Writer:

Stephen Poliakoff (writer)

Release Date:

1 December 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A woman who has been institutionalized for 60 years for the "crime" of not conforming to the 1920s image...

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Awards:

5 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Peggy Ashcroft	...	Lillian Huckle
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Brid Brennan	...	Lillian's Nurse
Francesca Buller	...	Hospital Nurse
Graham Callan	...	Suite Host
Michael Carter	...	Head Waiter
Rosalie Crutchley	...	Gladys
Pamela Dale	...	Teresa
Donald Douglas	...	Lillian's Father
James Fox	...	Hugh Ambrose
Edgar Goodall	...	Thomas
Leslie Goodall	...	Old Edward
Sally Ann Goodworth	...	Hotel Pianist
James Griffiths	...	Hospital Doctor
Richard Haddon Haines	...	Harley Street Doctor
David Hargreaves	...	Lillian's Doctor
Ann Haydn-Edwards	...	Supermarket Cashier
Cryss Jean Healey	...	Young Margaret
Barnaby Holm	...	Young Edward
Richard Huw	...	Baby Scan Doctor
Geraldine James	...	Harriet Ambrose
Nick Kemp	...	Policeman
Rachel Kempson	...	Matilda
Jackson Kyle	...	Dominic Ambrose
Hugh Lloyd	...	George
Robyn Moore	...	Louise
Malcolm Mudie	...	Party Guest
Maureen Nelson	...	Woman
Rebecca Pidgeon	...	Young Lillian
David Pullan	...	Harriet's Father
Doyle Richmond	...	Traffic Warden
Hugh Ross	...	1920's Doctor
Jon Strickland	...	Reception
Carrie Thomas	...	1920's Nurse
David Timson	...	Movie Buff
Claire Williamson	...	Girl at Reception
René Zagger	...	Young Thomas

Runtime:

USA:103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | Sweden:11

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Last film role of Peggy Ashcroft.

Last Performance of Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Enjoyable Geraldine James!

This was Peggy Ashcroft's last performance as LIllian Huckle, a woman who was institutionalized because she was considered to wild and rambunctious for 1920's English standards. Basically she was boy crazy and non-conforming.

She would stay in the institution her entire life, then be released and sent to her nephew to live with. Now an old woman who had never lived, she finds all she can do is sit and stare.

Whether it was intended or not, the movie shifts all focus on Ashcroft to Geraldine James, who plays Harriet Ambrose, the wife of the nephew. She is pregnant and visibly showing. She feels unappreciated by her husband and her precocious firstborn son.

The moment we realize that something is amiss is when this expectant mother is balancing on a chair throwing things out of the loft at the top of the stairs. Lillian, sitting at the bottom of the stairs, looks in disbelief as do we.

From there, Harriet takes herself and Lillian on the lam. Nothing is stopping Harriet, not her husband, her pregnancy or Lillian. She wrecks the car, catches her dress in the door and rips it, then hitchhikes even further.

Credit cards are hurled into the hotel's heating system. Harriet gorges on sliced beef and ham at the party that night. Finally, she confides in the slowly re-appearing LIllian that she is unhappy with her life and wants to live. She is rushed to the hospital with the pregnancy and Lillian, now deciding she has emerged once more, barricades the hospital door to keep Harriet's husband and the doctors away from her new ally.

Very well done program, especially check out the early scene when Harriet goes grocery shopping with Lillian and Lillian, not knowing what to do, buys a dozen frozen ducks. Guess what the special was at the next party the Ambrose's had?