With Widow's Bay, British actress Kate O'Flynn has become an overnight star in the United States (after years of television and movies out of the UK). As the fiercely frustrated Patricia Moyer, O'Flynn made TV audiences howl with laughter and fright, whether she was fleeing a resurrected serial killer or enjoying the rhythm of the night at her sunset cocktail party.
It's little wonder then that genre fans began cosplaying Patricia, leading to an excellent meet-up of Widow's Bay fans at DragonCon. But O'Flynn's performance has made an impression on the industry as well, as she took home the Primetime Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, one of the 14 trophies Katie Dippold's brilliant horror-comedy series won earlier this week.
Now, fans will have to wait for the much-anticipated second season of Widow's Bay. But in the meantime, they can enjoy O'Flynn's performance in Tender Loving Care, which has an echo of Patricia's moxie.
Tender Loving Care is a warm and bittersweet drama about family.
Written and directed by British filmmaker Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies, Hard Truths), Tender Loving Care centers on two social workers who have been best friends since childhood. Those unfamiliar with Leigh's profoundly humane filmmaking might assume this setup could veer into grim tragedy porn, exploiting the real-life neglect and abuse witness by social workers to jolt an audience into reaction. Instead, Leigh's story is about the resilience of two women who give their all to help others, even when it comes at great cost to themselves. Theirs is not a story of tragedy, but of love.
Amy (O'Flynn) has just been dumped by her crappy boyfriend, who's gone back to his wife. Thankfully, Amy's childhood bestie Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson) is more than happy to take her in, restoring the roommate rhythm they created at university. At first, their shared activities seem cliched, as they pour out their gripes alongside glass after glass of wine. But Leigh's nuanced script, paired with O'Flynn and Johnson's eloquent chemistry, makes for scenes so intimate that it almost feels rude to eavesdrop on them.
In the day, these women stride into grubby environments, like a hoarder's home stacked high with debris, or the cluttered apartment of a single mom desperate to get her boy back. In these spaces, Amy and Rosie aim to be helpful and firm, without giving feigned smiles or false hope. At night, they pop a cork and set down the weight of their responsibilities to feel like girls again, together. They'll toss about a teddy bear, hype each other up, and vent about men and work with a joie de vivre that feels fragile in their shimmering eyes. Leaning on each other, they'll muster through each disappointment or heartache, be it a flaky firefighter or a dementia diagnosis.
Tender Loving Care offers a bracing and beautiful portrait of a family coping with dementia.
While the first act of Tender Loving Care sets up these friends' romantic troubles, the second introduces another throbbing concern of aging. Amy's father Geoff (a plucky Paul Jesson) is becoming confused. In early scenes with his wife Birdie (Marion Bailey), the two share a playful patter that reflects decades of depending on each other. But before long, this witty, loving man can't keep up. He mutters about swans and wanders away from the conversation when Amy and Rosie come to visit.
Leigh offers as soft a touch in depicting dementia as he does in presenting poverty. So, rather than tear-jerking, Tender Loving Care is quietly affecting. As someone who's seen loved ones transformed by dementia, Jesson's performance felt like a mirror, the alertness of his gaze dulling to a questioning stare. The once-jaunty step diminishing into a stilted shuffle.
Bailey is his staunch scene partner. The dynamic shift demanded when a partner becomes a caretaker is shown with, well, tender loving care. At the first signs of peculiar behavior, she's sharp with him, scolding Geoff for sitting out in the cold. But as she realizes what might be going on, her tone shifts to sweetness, the kind that might cajole a child.
A doctor is called, and some jolliness is made of the old-fashioned charm of a home visit. But the reality hits home as Amy touches her father's hand, a silent call for him to return to himself, an aching awareness that will happen less and less.
Kate O'Flynn is terrific in Tender Loving Care.
This film marks O'Flynn's fourth collaboration with Leigh, following Happy-Go-Lucky, Mr. Turner, and Peterloo. This starring role is her best collaboration with Leigh yet, as Amy gives her space to express unfettered joy, seething frustration, and earnest tenderness.
In Rosie's apartment, the friends, who might be the real love of each others' lives, express themselves with ribald jokes, a bouncy tone, and a fearless embrace of goofiness. In one scene, O'Flynn dances about to pop music with a comical jig. And while it's easy to recall her now Emmy–winning dance in Widow's Bay, these dances also offer a distinction. At sunset cocktails, Patricia is dancing like a goofball, but fully confident she is crushing it as a hostess that everyone adores. Amy's jig is meant to make her friend laugh, to allow both of them to let go of the unending ache of being human.
In scenes with her clients or co-workers, she's more stern but still loving. A hard tone is tough love, meant to stabilize a faltering person. Then, in moments with Amy's ailing father, that sternness brightens, creating the support her elderly parents need as they enter a new and terrifying chapter for all three of them.
In a scene Leigh could have plucked from my own life, Amy gently coaches her father to sing a song he once loved. His gaze remains indistinct, but his voice, sturdy and singing, knows the way. Together, they share a song, creating a simple scene that says so much about what it means to love someone through the thick of it, until the end.
Which is all to say, if Widow's Bay has you wanting to see more of the onscreen marvel that is Kate O'Flynn, see Tender Loving Care. It's certainly less silly, and the horrors more of the aching everyday. But within it, she gives another sensational performance, bringing dignity to a lonely woman who bravely finds joy even in the darkest moments.
Tender Loving Care was reviewed at the Toronto International Film Festival. The movie will open in theaters on Dec. 4.
