Nigel Cole’s warm comedies often centre on women pushing beyond the lives expected of them. We like his concern for the people involved, but the familiar plotting can ask more of a good cast than it should.
Fi1m perspective
In Saving Grace (2000), Brenda Blethyn gives a familiar comedy about respectable people behaving improperly enough feeling to keep it going. Nigel Cole’s attention to her pays off whenever the friendship matters more than the cannabis jokes. We warmed to that friendship because Blethyn makes it worth caring about even when the plotting is thin. The reservation comes as the farce gets busier and less convincing. Cole handles ensembles well, but our recommendation comes with qualifications about the material he gives them.
His feature debut led to Calendar Girls (2003) and Made in Dagenham (2010), with their broader emphasis on groups of women and community. Cole makes humour part of these stories rather than treating the serious business as a reason to stop being funny. His television work stretches from Cold Feet (1998) to later episodes of Last Tango in Halifax (2014) and Doc Martin. Moving between television and features makes sense for a director so interested in what an ensemble can do.
Cinematographer John de Borman worked with Cole on both Saving Grace and Made in Dagenham, giving the films location-driven images that keep the people central. It is an appropriate approach for stories in which setting and community help explain how the characters behave. Editor Michael Parker is another collaborator with whom Cole has worked twice. We would not go to Cole for experiments with the camera, and there is no reason why every director should offer them.
The problem is his willingness to keep a serviceable comic premise going after it has offered most of its pleasures. Saving Grace repeats its invitation to enjoy improper behaviour after we have already accepted it, and its 93 minutes still leave room for repetition. Blethyn does enough to make an undemanding evening worthwhile, but the cannabis comedy cannot sustain all the attention it receives. Start there for her, provided repeated jokes are an acceptable price for the company.
Biography
Nigel Cole is a British film and television director. He began his career in the 1980s directing current affairs programmes and documentaries for Central Independent Television.
Cole directed episodes of the television series Cold Feet (1998) and Peak Practice. His feature films include Saving Grace (2000), which won the World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, Calendar Girls (2003), A Lot Like Love (2005) and Made in Dagenham (2010). He has also directed episodes of Doc Martin.
