Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson’s performances are the best of The last escapea film directed by Oliver Parker that puts an end to both of their careers, an exciting farewell that tells a love story and a last adventure.
Caine made the film when he was 89 (he is 91 today) and decided to retire, and Jackson died last year at 87 without being able to see the premiere.
Seeing them act with so much professionalism and talent despite the years is something that touches the heart and gives the film a particular flight and a certain inspiring tone, because you cannot believe the ability they have to compose their characters with such dignity, in a simple story that lives up to its prestige.
To the scene of the events
Caine is Bernard Jordan, a World War II veteran who made headlines around the world in the summer of 2014 when he escaped from the residence where he lived with his wife Irene (Jackson) to join his fellow war veterans on a beach in Normandy on the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings.
Bernie manages to escape at a snail’s pace with his walker, but safely and intelligently, avoiding the controls and the sight of curious onlookers. Meanwhile, Irene puts up with him from the residence, and she also shows mischief when the assistants and nurse Adele (Danielle Vitalis) ask her about Bernie.
At the celebration site, Bernie meets another pair, Arthur Howard-Johnson (John Standing), who invites him to join the group of veterans he is in, which gives rise to a new friendship with scenes full of precise dialogue and of surprising spontaneity, in which old age is portrayed with realism and melancholy.
But what Bernie wants is to visit the grave of his former combat partner Douglas Bennet (Elliot Norman), a little to alleviate the guilt he feels about his death, and a little to calm the trauma left by the war.
The director introduces flashbacks with moments from the love story between Bernie and Irene, when they were young and witnessed the sunrise in a paradisiacal place and other key moments for the couple.
The flashbacks They also show the relationship between Bernie and Bennet, the battles they were in and when Bennet dies in combat, all in a somewhat schematic and underlined way, although clear enough for the viewer to understand what happened.
The last escape It is the story of a last adventure, of a last disobedience on the part of a man who belongs to a generation with values that are being lost. And it is, of course, a love story.
But there is something more interesting in the film, and it is a comment that Bernie makes in which he says that you cannot escape old age, that that is the truth. To which Irene responds with a comment that denies it and that touches the heart.
The talent, conviction, credibility, lucidity and wisdom that the years give them are captured on the screen, in a film that functions as the emotional farewell of two immense actors, who made us happy for many decades.
To see
The last escape (The Great Escaper, UK/France/Sweden, 2023)
Drama
Rating: Good
Director: Oliver Parker.
Screenplay: William Ivory.
Cast: Michael Caine, Glenda Jackson, John Standing, Will Fletcher, Laura Marcus, Elliot Norman, Danielle Vitalis, Victor Oshin, Geoffrey Lumb, Jackie Clune, Ann Queensberry and Wolf Kahler.
Photography: Christopher Ross.
Music: Craig Armstrong.
Duration: 96 minutes.
Suitable for people over 13 years old. In theaters.
