'Finding Your Feet'

Finding Your Feet is not just about a lot of old people learning to dance, although the characters do dance and they are old. It is more a film about living life to the fullest, finding joy in simple things and having fun along the way. Bringing out the best in one’s self brings out the best in others.

At a stately party to celebrate her husband’s retirement from public service, the newly dubbed Lady Sandra (Imelda Staunton), discovers hubby has been having a five year affair with her best friend. Well, that certainly spoils the party! The only person to whom she can turn is her somewhat estranged, “hippy-esque” sister Bif (Celia Imrie). Bif lives in a comfortably cluttered flat in a scruffy part of London.

Lady Sandra has a sprayed-to-death bubble-style hairdo, Bif has turquoise streaks in her disheveled hair. Sandra wears heels and tailored outfits in neutral colors, Bif wears flats and is dressed in layers of voluminous garments of all colors. While Sandra is blue and gloomy, her sister appears bright and sparkly. Sandra moves in with her anyway and their four feet begin adjusting to the new arrangement. One day in the middle of this adjustment period, Bif suddenly grabs her bike helmet and backpack and dashes out rolling her bicycle behind her – she has just remembered a previous appointment.

The appointment is a dance class for seniors lead by an energetic young teacher who believes there should be fun in the lives of these “oldsters” such as music and dance. Two other members of the class are long time buddies, Charlie (Timothy Spall) and Ted (David Hayman), who live on adjoining houseboats. The two men deal with disappointments in life but make the effort to find some pleasure in living, such as meeting new people and even dancing a bit. As a group, the dancers may not be ready for a performance in the West End, but they’re having fun.

Bif decides it’s time to drag her gloomy sister to one of these dance sessions – Sandra used to be quite a dancer as a child. Charlie becomes her dance partner and reluctantly their feet grow to deal with one another. Just when things seem to brighten for Sandra, her estranged husband appears pleading with her to return home. It doesn’t help that their daughter and grandson are also begging her to come home.

Quite a predicament for Sandra. Should she return to her former existence or remain with Bif and her new friends, to create a life of her own? She and her feet know where they’ve been. But her feet are different now, who knows where Sandra will want them to take her next.

Directed by Richard Loncraine with prior credits of “Five Flights Up” and “My One And Only, “ this should see film runs 111 minutes.

johan@beachcomber.news