I'll See You In My Dreams | Blythe Danner seizes the role of a lifetime

I'll See You In My Dreams Blythe Danner Martin Starr

(Image credit: © Bleecker Street Media / © U)

Life goes on. Go with it.

Gentle, bittersweet comedy drama I’ll See You in My Dreams gives a long overdue starring role to veteran character actress Blythe Danner (Robert De Niro’s wife in the Meet the Parents films; Gwyneth Paltrow’s mum in real life).

She plays a seventysomething California widow, a former singer and teacher who pulls herself out of a dull rut after she strikes up a platonic friendship with her pool cleaner (Martin Starr) and a romantic one with Sam Elliott’s twinkly silver fox.

The tempo is mellow, but Danner gives her character a lived-in richness and the script steers clear of sentimentality, making this a shrewdly sensitive portrait of old age. Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place and June Squibb supply laughs on the sidelines as Danner’s waggish bridge-playing pals.

Certificate 12A. Runtime 94 mins. Director Brett Haley

I'll See You In My Dreams starring Blythe Danner debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on Tuesday 11 July.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1VbBOTXzfI

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.