A Family Affair

Annabel wakes up in a strange bed, it’s her 30^th birthday and she was putting the drink away a lot. The next she hears is a man’s voice, and in walks Bernard, a much, much older man.

Annabel’s mum is ringing her, but she refuses to answer, Bernard thinks she should. Annabel tells him that her mum’s present was a visit to a clinic for an egg count, and she blames this for getting blind drunk and ending up with Bernard.

She has been told she’s infertile and doesn’t like men. Bernard doesn’t say anything but gets her a cup of tea and tells her kids are selfish bastards anyway.

Bernard puts some music on the two dance, as Annabel has flashbacks to the night before, which she seemed to enjoy a lot. That is until Bernard’s grandson comes in and Annabel thinks it’s him she’s been with, but there’s a surprising twist in store.

A Family Affair is a funny, lovely film written and directed by Florence Keith-Roach, who is also Annabelle, (“Philomena”, “Juliet, Naked”), John Standing (“V For Vendetta”, “The Elephant Man”) as Bernard, Kwami Odoom (“The Athena (TV)”) as Max and Thalissa Teixeira (“Hobbs & Shaw“, The Musketeers (TV)”) as Lola.

(This review was written as part of the BFI Film Festival London coverage)