THE STORY – A school teacher and a composer meet after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease on the same morning.
THE CAST – Rhys Ifans, Laura Linney, Rory Kinnear & Monica Dolan
THE TEAM – John Madden (Director) & Paul Mayhew-Archer (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 115 Minutes
Five good years. That’s how long the neurologist tells Tony (Rhys Ifans) and Emma (Laura Linney) they have to live after giving them each a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease within an hour of each other. Five good years, more or less. As they count down those five years, they keep running into each other as they navigate their changing lives, battling hand tremors, gambling addictions, poor mobility, and concerned family members. Both have family to support them – Tony’s perpetually-aggrieved but fiercely loving sister Liz (Monica Dolan), and Emma’s well-meaning but worried daughters – but none of them can ever truly understand what they’re going through the way they can understand each other. Through their different approaches to dealing with the disease, Tony and Emma learn from each other, help each other, and make each other laugh, building a relationship that just may change their lives.
Directed by Oscar nominee John Madden and written by Paul Mayhew-Archer, co-writer of beloved Britcom “The Vicar of Dibley,” who is currently living with Parkinson’s, “Onwards and Sideways” may just be the finest exploration of the disease on film yet, thanks in no small part to the film’s winning humor. Sweet but not saccharine, moving but not maudlin, and mordantly funny without being disrespectful, Mayhew-Archer’s screenplay is a marvel, offering something for everyone who has been touched by the disease. His personal connection to the material comes through in every scene, but never more than when Liz explodes in frustration at the neurologist (Rory Kinnear) when her brother has only one good year left, angry that her phone can connect her to the whole world, but somehow, no one has been able to get the signals from Tony’s brain to properly go to his hands and feet. “It’s only inches,” she cries, channeling the anguish of the thousands of people suffering from Parkinson’s and their loved ones. Mayhew-Archer’s sitcom-honed funny bone finds the perfect sweet spot to be laughing with the film’s Parkinson’s patients and never at them. The scene where Tony finally shares his condition with his boss is a particular highlight, wringing all the laughs possible out of a hilariously awkward situation, only to follow it up with one of many moments of supreme tenderness. Madden, the consummate British journeyman, directs the film with a light touch whenever it’s not dealing with the horrors of the disease, but those moments where things do get horrifying lay it on a bit thick, with overactive camerawork, overly expressive music courtesy of Thomas Newman, and overly committed performances from the two leads.
Thankfully, while Linney and Ifans have their overindulgent moments, their physicality as their bodies degrade is always impressive. The stuttering steps, slack facial muscles, and shaking hands all feel achingly real, but the emotion they express underneath that physicality allows the audience to immerse themselves in the characters’ experiences. Linney’s eyes perpetually plead for her body to not fail her, while Ifans expresses palpable exhaustion in his body even as it stiffens up and becomes unable to move. This being a big, broad tearjerker of a movie, a romance appears out of almost nowhere, but the two actors, especially Ifans, sell it, locking eyes in a way that feels like a soul connection. Both performers have been at the top of their profession for decades now, and their performances here rank among their best.
The film’s gentle approach to its storytelling leads to many cliché moments. Tony has been an elementary school teacher for over 30 years, and his goodbye party is as shameless a bid for tears as you can imagine. Newman’s overused score yanks at the heartstrings, but does contain an affectingly lovely piece that Emma wrote for a Parkinson’s ballet class performance. Mayhew-Archer even gives himself a cameo as a resolutely negative Parkinson’s patient who has a last-minute change of heart, delivering a message of hope to everyone like him that feels all the more powerful coming from the mouth of someone who has been living with this disease for years. For all that “Onwards and Sideways” can feel a bit generic and simple on the surface, that can be deceptive. As Tony says to his students: “All stories can have a happy ending. It just depends on where you end them.” The film does end on a note of uplift, but the acknowledgment that the disease will never go away is baked into every frame, resulting in a film that earns the tears it will doubtlessly get from those whose lives have been touched by Parkinson’s. The film’s mixture of darkness and light feels just right, reminding audiences of all stages of life that laughter truly can be the best medicine.
