UNFINISHED SONG

UNFINISHED SONG is beautifully crafted, emotionally affecting drama with comic elements about an elderly British man who finds joy and purpose when he joins his ailing wife’s choir in her place and forms a platonic friendship with the young woman volunteer leading the choir. UNFINISHED SONG has a strong moral worldview undercut slightly by some pagan, immoral elements.

Veteran character actor Terence Stamp plays Arthur, a crusty old Englishman in a small town. Arthur’s wife, Marion (played by Vanessa Redgrave) is facing terminal cancer while hoping to continue with her joyous hobby of singing in a choir of the area’s elderly, with 10 weeks to go before a major singing competition. When Marion is diagnosed with an even harsher level of cancer, she asks Arthur to continue visiting the choir for her. As a result, he forms a beautiful platonic friendship with Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton), the vibrant young woman who volunteers to help the elderly sing in the choir each night despite working as a schoolteacher all day. Elizabeth helps Arthur become a nicer person and let his guard down some, while he teaches her the importance of finding the proper balance between her work and social life, and to fight for a great relationship to happen.

Meanwhile, Arthur also starts to overcome his distant relationship with his now-grown son and to get to know his granddaughter better through quality time spent with the young girl. As Marion slowly drifts toward death, Arthur’s lessons in life embolden him and help the others around him in profound ways. The ending left the audience at the screening Movieguide® attended sobbing with tears of wonder and joy.

Stamp is particularly wonderful in a performance that richly deserves to be remembered at Oscar time. The movie has a slow pace at times, but the emotional payoff by the end is tremendous and satisfying. Those concerned about the state of the elderly and who wish to counteract pro-euthanasia propaganda like AMOUR need to embrace movies like UNFINISHED SONG. Like QUARTET, another recent movie about elderly people, it’s a refreshing, uplifting movie about elderly people refusing to let their age stop them from leading a happy, productive life.

UNFINISHED SONG also contains some foul language, however. It also has a couple scenes where the young choir leader gets the elderly singers to sing songs like “Let’s Talk About Sex” and “Love Shack,” and the older characters react to this humorously. For example, the choir director says, “These songs are about getting laid,” and the elderly men in the choir laugh.

Happily, this objectionable content is overcome by the movie’s positive messages, which include a celebration of marriage lasting until death. Ultimately, UNFINISHED SONG is intended for moviegoers who want to see something more realistic, winsome, uplifting, and human in the middle of the summer blockbuster season.