@ Cineworld Thu 22 Jun and Sat 24 Jun 2017

Part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival

Ralph (John Hurt) is a brilliant writer who has aged into a curmudgeonly old man, at odds with everyone but his long-suffering wife Anna (Sofia Helin) and recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. Keen to make amends with his estranged son, Ralph sends for the errant Michael (Max Brown) to visit his Portuguese villa one last time before he goes gently (or not) into that good night.

With Hurt himself taking his final bow from this life at the beginning of the year, the movie is lent an extra layer of poignancy which only serves to make it all the more powerful. As ever, Hurt is outstanding in the lead role, while Helin also excels as his troubled wife and Charles Dance puts in a flawlessly workmanlike performance as the mysterious visitor who comes to the house to help him on his journey.

As well as wrestling with themes such as euthanasia and familial strife, there’s also enough of a literary edge to keep bookworms engaged, while the father-son aspect of the plot is played to good effect. The writing is expertly paced and the twists in the storyline, though not enough to induce carsickness or vertigo, are sufficiently unexpected to make it an unpredictably enjoyable 90 minutes.

Though it doesn’t delve into the territory of loved ones left behind quite as viscerally as it could have, there are likely to be some teary eyes in the cinema by its close – if only for the loss of a fine actor in Hurt or of the memories it conjures with the viewer’s own parents. In any case, it’s a fitting tribute to one of the true gentlemen of British cinema over the last five-and-a-half decades. Do not go gently, John. You will be missed.