The Phone Call

This is a really quite poignant glimpse at just how tough it can be when you are on the end of a phone trying to help someone in the depths of despair. Sally Hawkins is "Heather" who comes to volunteer one evening at a crisis helpline and receives a call from "Stan". The immediately recognisable sound of Jim Broadbent's emotional voice now tells her of his predicament, and pretty swiftly she is not only trying to console and comfort him, but also to try to glean some information about his identity so she can perhaps offer more practical help. She thinks she remembers a call he made before, you see - but he denies that. Hawkins offers a masterly understated performance here, gently feeling her way through a traumatic conversation that she - and we - sense might not end well. It's gently scored and effectively illustrates just how profoundly a sense of loneliness and pointlessness can affect even the most robust of people. It's well worth a watch this.

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