Treacly entertainment for the elderly

Rating: 5/10 (21 December 2004)

A curious cross between a pewiod dwama about repressed, moustachioed Edwardians, and a twinkly paean to the imagination of little kiddywinks.
Though beautifully filmed throughout, the latter episodes (accompanied by tinselly music) are so cringingly saccharine that at times I wondered if the film was aimed at an audience of five-year olds. Yet the other themes of infidelity, disease and death seemed strangely inappropriate for tiny tots.
But then it all made sense: surrounding me in the cinema were hordes of old age pensioners, who though unaccustomed to such new-fangled forms of entertainment, could relate perfectly to being a tiny tot in Edwardian times, being almost of that generation. And so they found the film delightful.
I, still having full command of my faculties, was not so keen, though in time I hope my toes will uncurl without surgical intervention.