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For those not familiar with Glenda Jackson’s work, she’s British acting loyalty and among the best that’s ever been on film; she won 2 Oscars by the time she was in her mid-30s, for Women In Love and A Touch Of Class. She retired from acting in 1992 to pursue politics, with a long stint as a Member of Parliment and some time in Tony Blair’s cabinet. But she returned to acting in 2015 and the world is better because of it. Elizabeth Is Missing is her first screen performance since she’s come back, and she won a BAFTA for it. Read on for more…
The Gist: Maud Horsham (Glenda Jackson) is an octogenarian who lives alone in the house where she grew up. She is living alone despite the fact that she’s in the middle stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and is getting worse. Her daughter Helen (Helen Behan) has to tape reminders everywhere on how to do things or if they need to buy things. She constantly buys canned peaches. And she always has to write things down on sticky notes or scraps of paper, or she’ll completely forget what just happened.
One of the things she wrote down is working in the garden of her friend Elizabeth (Maggie Steed). They complain, as most people of that age do, about their no good kids who never come to visit, and when they do, they seem to be constantly annoyed that they’re there. While digging, Maud finds half of a compact that once belonged to her older sister Sukey (Sophie Rundle), who disappeared without a trace in 1949. She often flashes back to the beautiful Sukey, and even 70 years later, is haunted by her disappearance.
The next day, she’s scheduled to meet Elizabeth at the Salvation Army store where both used to work. But Elizabeth never shows up. Maud sets out to find her friend, going to her house, writing down what she sees, and finds to be unusual. She goes back to Helen to help her get in touch with Elizabeth’s son, and her granddaughter Katy (Nell Williams) helps her organize her notes using the systems that have helped her live alone while her brain deteriorates.
At a certain point, she starts conflating Elizabeth’s disappearance with Sukey’s; she remembers how Sukey’s husband Frank (Mark Stanley) was suspicious of Doug (Neil Pendleton), the border who lives with young Maud (Liv Hill) and her parents. She also thinks back at the ugly dead birds under glass that was on the mantle of Sukey and Frank’s house, as well as how sad she was after Sukey seemingly ran off.
Maud’s Alzheimer’s quickly gets worse as she raves about the “mad woman with the umbrella” and starts to not recognize Helen and Katy. It gets to the point where she has to move out of her house and in with Helen. But she’s determined to figure out where Elizabeth is, but that search may also help her figure out what happened to Sukey, as well.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Elizabeth Is Missing has the same sad and almost harrowing vibe as other movies about characters suffering through Alzheimer’s or dementia, like Still Alice.
Performance Worth Watching: Glenda Jackson is mesmerizing as Maud here. She’s British acting royalty, with two Oscars among the many awards on her shelves. She came back five years ago, but worked mostly on stage until Elizabeth Is Missing. She won a BAFTA award for this performance, and it’s easy to see why; Jackson plays Maud as a tough and stubborn old bird who is determined to live her life her way, despite the fact that her short-term memory is shot and she’s starting to forget who her closest relatives are. The repetition and confusion someone with Alzheimer’s goes through is played very effectively by Jackson.
Memorable Dialogue: “I don’t like all the blanks,” Maud tells Helen. She continues, “Elizabeth is missing. I know it!” There’s a later scene where Maud forgets who Helen is, and it’s as heartbreaking as anything we’ve seen in years.
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: As we said, Elizabeth Is Missing, directed by Aisling Walsh, and adapted by Andrea Gibb from Emma Healey’s novel of the same name, hinges on Jackson’s performance. She’s been away from acting for so long that younger movie fans might have not caught some of the performances that won her Oscars in the early 1970s. But she’s lost nothing during her time away (when she was an MP and an under-secretary of state for transport under Tony Blair). Her performance here is tinged with sadness, determination, and utter, utter frustration that she can’t fill in the blanks of where and why her only friend has gone missing.
If this were just a mystery being solved by a woman with Alzheimer’s, though, the plot might get a little repetitive. But the fact that this is bringing back memories of Sukey’s disappearance, and leading her to answers despite her deteriorated state, is what makes this story stand out. Throughout the film, we’re not sure if Elizabeth is actually missing or that it could be explained by filling in some of Maud’s blanks. But we do know that Sukey disappeared 70 years ago, and Maud is pretty sure she didn’t just run away.
Jackson’s tense and emotional performance brings out all of the difficulties that people have when their memory starts to go, and the performances by Behan and Sam Hazeldine, who plays Maud’s can-do-no-wrong son Tom, show how devastating Alzheimer’s is to the families of the people suffering. Rundle and Hill are also good as the young Sukey and Maud; Hill plays the young Maud as the burgeoning tough bird that she would be in 2019.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Elizabeth Is Missing is a film that will leave you depressed, especially after the final scene, but happy you were able to watch the great Glenda Jackson put in a great late-in-life performance.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
Stream Elizabeth Is Missing On PBS.org
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