This film charts the relationship between a man imprisoned for drug smuggling and his wife and is being shot over the course of five years, a few weeks at a time.
Direction
Winterbottom's five-year gamble pays off in lived-in authenticity.
Acting
Henderson's face holds decades of waiting.
Practical Effects
No aging makeup—just real children, actually growing.
Director
Michael Winterbottom
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shaun and Robert Kirk are non-actors; their real mother appears briefly as a prison visitor.
Winterbottom filmed during actual furloughs, meaning production logistics mirrored the family's fractured reality.
GB
US
