While the subject matter sounds morbid and depressing, the film is anything but! It vibrates with real life rhythms of speech and relationships, especially where family members connect with each other on complicated levels. This is brought to life by delightfully natural performances all around. Polley is stunningly authentic, capturing little details in each scene that draw us into Ann's mind. And nothing we've ever seen before can prepare us for Harry's sensitive, earthy turn as Ann's bitter burnout of a mother who still has a soft spot for Joan Crawford films. Each character has detail that makes him or her wonderfully three-dimensional, and while this makes them spring to life it also shows what a carefully plotted film this actually is. Everyone here has a journey to take, whether they know it or not, and it's all perhaps a bit too tidy and even handed. But Coixet's sensitive and truthful examination of mortality turns the film into a celebration of life that still has the ability to catch us off guard and challenge us to look at the world around us in a new way.