Gideon's Daughter (2005 TV Movie) User Reviews

Very touching

[missmarmite · 7/10 · 11 March 2006]

This is definitely not a film for everyone. But I was eager to see it and happy to get it on DVD, as I live outside the UK and don't get the BBC. Bill Nighy, Miranda Richardson and Robert Lindsay together in one film is must, no matter what the film might be about.

This is a slow film, things happen almost in "real time", and the characters are very realistic. I work in a shop in a big train station, I get to see the most different people every day. People like Gideon or Stella do exist, and why not make a film about characters like them? The most beautiful or rather endearing scene, enchanting maybe even, was when Stella and Gideon lie next to each other in Stella's bed and talk about their lives and loved ones. A very quiet scene, and endlessly touching to watch.

Someone else said here, people probably have to be quite creative to understand this film. This might be true. You have to let go of conventional films a bit to be able to embrace this one. But if you're open enough to new impressions, then this is the right film for you. Or if you just want to see excellent performances by aforementioned actors.

Beautiful but empty

[paul2001sw-1 · 6/10 · 1 March 2006]

There's always a lot to enjoy in any Stephen Polliakoff film: striking use of images and music, an interest in big questions, and the director's lack of fear of letting things run at a slow pace where this makes the story, and atmosphere, more absorbing. But there's also always a journey into a stylised world, and a tendency to set up a false dichotomy between an overly-schematised, and fake, business world, and an overly romanticised (and arguably no less fake) real world. Even when my sympathies lie with Polliakoff, I'm always frustrated by his failure to give our own side a sufficiently hard time. 'Gideon's Daughter' is not his most interesting film, largely because its central characters (a jaded spin doctor and his almost supernaturally beautiful, talented and serene daughter) are fundamentally quite dull. A moment towards the end of the film illustrates the problem succinctly: we see the main characters disappearing from a beautiful Edinburgh street, a street that it the real world in permanently busy with traffic and people but which here is shown devoid of cars and pedestrians alike: and while a director should be forgiven occasional moments of dramatic licence, when the entire drama is framed through such a distorted lens, though big questions may be asked, they're not really answered. This is a wonderfully crafted little film; but also a film that has very little relevance to the messiness of real lives.

Fantastic if you understand it

[KatieScarlettButler · 8/10 · 10 March 2006]

I saw this and thought it would be excellent as I am a great fan of Miranda Richardson, Bill Nighy and Stephen Poliakoff, and contrary to the total slating some people have given it, I thought it was great! The only thing is, I reckon you have to be ready to look deeply into what is actually happening because I (being a drama/English Lit student) thought it was brilliant, but my less creative friends thought it was dull. So you have to be kind of out there, looking deeper into the relationships formed and how the dynamics work blah blah. Excellent performances by Nighy and Richardson (goes without saying - the "video camera" scene in the car is really natural!)and some beautiful cinematography. Gideon's Daughter is a complete contrast to the also excellent The Lost Prince, another Poliakoff/Richardson formula which was probably more successful because it was on a "real" level.

confusing but engrossing drama

[brendastern · 9/10 · 11 February 2007]

I ordered Gideon's Daughter from Netflicks after watching the Golden Globes and seeing awards for both Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt. The movie is well worth watching for anyone who enjoys their work, as well as that of Miranda Richardson. The plot is a little confusing, and what is a throw-away scene at the beginning of the film becomes something that resonates throughout, so it's important to pay attention. Bill Nighy's personality is somewhat at odds with his character, who is supposed to be the most important spinmeister in England. Although there are moments when he lights up, he seems almost too laid back for the role, and it's also hard to believe he would have enough energy to be womanizer as he is supposed to be in the film. But I found his scenes with Emily Blunt to be a road map of the anger and frustration between a father and a daughter. Emily Blunt, in particular, is a revelation and if you only know her from The Devil Wears Prada, this gives a much better indication of what she is capable of doing. It has that high-gloss BBC combination of intellect, intrigue and pathos, and if you are looking for a way to spend an engrossing Sunday evening aside from the usual melodramas I recommend this.

Millennium approaching

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 25 November 2011]

The arrival of the year 2000 marked a series of celebration in the world. England had big plans for the arrival of the millennium, so it was only fitting the organization for the awaited event fell in one of the country's most regarded P.R. men, Gideon Warner. Gideon, in much demand, begins work into what was going to be a spectacular display from a dome that was to be the center piece of the glittering night.

Gideon Warner did not come from the rich classes. As a matter of fact, he was a self made man. He has had many women in his life. As we meet him, he is living with one woman that is into the ritzy life in which Gideon moves. At one point, she comments they have received twenty seven invitations to different affairs in which his appearance is a must. Natasha, his only daughter, resents his father infidelities to her mother while she was living. In fact, Gideon committed the ultimate sin of not being by her bedside while a younger Natasha has to experience her demise because he was on the phone taking care of his personal business.

When the parents of a dead boy appear at his door demanding an explanation as to why he was killed, the target is one of Gideon's clients, a politician he has been advising on his image. The grieving father wants to make the man pay for what he perceives was the cause of death, but Gideon takes him back to his office, thus preventing a bigger confrontation. Stella, the mother of the boy, is not as aggressive. In fact, Stella is a free spirit who quickly transforms Gideon from the style of life into a caring human being, bringing him closer to Natasha in the process.

A television film directed by Stephen Poliakoff, was shown on a cable channel recently. It might have been distributed as a commercial feature, but we are not certain it was the case. The action takes place in 1997 and the death of Princess Diana is prominently shown as part as the action. The screenplay is by the director, who wanted perhaps to paint a broad canvas about that part of British society at the center of the action, which could well be the same as in America or other countries where the media is predominant in public affairs, and how it affects the people behind it.

Bill Nighy is Gideon Warner, walking as though in a fog throughout the film. Miranda Richardson appears as Stella, a much down to earth person completely the opposite from Gideon. Their romance seems a bit far fetched, at best. A blonde Emily Blunt plays Natasha, the young woman that has grown up resenting her father and all what he stands for. Robert Lindsay serves as the narrator, in a role that does not make much sense, but he is an actor that is welcome in anything because of his winning personality.

Excellent and deeply touching

[snowgoblin · 9/10 · 2 August 2007]

How can be this simply story so touching? I kept asking this question for hours. Is it a parent-child relationship that everyone of us knows (at least from one of its sides) or is it something more? Or is it that lazy tempo that makes this movie so real? And I can't forget the totally beautiful song performed by Emily Blunt (Natasha). Bill Nighy's (Gideon) acting is perfect, too. Every scene in this film fits in it accurately and although the ending is filled with pathos, you'll have to like it. Because you want to believe that life goes that way. You have to see it and the best option is to watch it with your parents. It says things people should tell, but they don't.

Simply Brilliant!

[ennor · 10/10 · 4 November 2008]

I just love Poliakoff - apart from 'Perfect Strangers' which bored me immensely. I found 'Shooting The Past' to be breathtaking, but 'Gideon's Daughter' occupies a different space altogether. It's about a lot of things - celebrity, grief - expressed and unexpressed - forgiveness and redemption. It's also about love and friendship, and a place where the two overlap.

I watched Bill Nighy closely throughout, and for me he never put a foot - or a hand, or a glance, or stare - wrong. Equally as exquisite was Miranda Richardson as Stella, the divorced woman whose son has died, and whose ex-husband (played by David Westhead) cannot let go of the need to 'right' a wrong.

In a way, this film is about nothing at all, and yet it encompasses so much that I'm finding it difficult to review. Don't expect to understand it all - I didn't, but that could be my short-coming. But I loved it so much I want to see it again and again. I just hope others love it as much as did I.

And your point is?

[gus120970 · 5/10 · 9 March 2006]

Frankly, this 'much anticipated' feature-length is all over the place, self-indulgent dialogue matched by equally indulgent performances by well known actors, highly aware they are in a 'quality drama' production. People all over Islington and Fulham nodding sagely, and the rest of us wondering what it's all meant to be about. Does Poliakoff know, or care? Early on it seems to be a weak satire on the 'era of spin' initiated by the New Labour government elected in 1997, which found its apotheosis in the risible Millennium Dome project, style without substance, and plastic style at that. Throw in the 'death of Diana' as a modular dramatic device, again used to illustrate the 'stage management' of our modern political and national life. But there is a problem. If you want to do satire you have to make it bite, particularly in the characterisation of Gideon himself, the spin meister. Bill Nighy, however, seems to wander throughout the production on valium, spending most of him staring out of windows and pondering the meaning of a song sung by his daughter. The satirical element is entirely missing from the second half, which turns into another middle class drama 'leitmotif' - the 'unconventional love story'. Realised in terms of one of those cross-class-cultural divide fantasies beloved of middle class playwrights. Toff Gideon dates a woman who works in an all night supermarket out in West London . Gideon decides to host a PR event at a nondescript Indian Restaurant. 'As if' on both counts. What is perhaps meant to be arresting and unpredictable is just patronising and unrealistic.

A brilliantly moving and utterly captivating story of the heartache of parenthood

[fwatkins-2 · 10/10 · 2 November 2008]

The story is narrated by a writer (Robert Lindsey's character) dictating it to a secretary. It is a story of damaged people, suffering intense pain in their personal lives while maintaining a facade of 'normality'. Gideon himself is an immensely successful and respected P.R. 'guru', feted by media moguls, celebrities and politicians alike. His daughter cannot forgive him for deserting her mother when she needed him most. Stella, who becomes Gideon's love interest, has lost her only child in a tragic accident. The Gideon character as played by Bill Nighy is calm and controlled in every situation with the answer to everyone's problems at his fingertips - except of course his own. His restraint and dignity make him truly enigmatic and beguiling throughout. By opening their hearts to each other the main protagonists finally find happiness, or at least peace. The film really captures the pain and torment every parent suffers in one form or another through their intense and overwhelming love for their children. Even the narrator's three year old son pops up, dumped at his doorstep by his ex-wife, the woman we fleetingly see at the end of the hallway. He then remarks 'has it come to this? She won't even speak to me any more' or words to that effect. The acting is brilliant, the direction faultless and the whole thing from start to finish totally captivating and moving.

Pretentious Rubbish: or how to try to fool some of the people all the time......

[rbrb · 2/10 · 31 December 2007]

BBC Entertainment cable channel lauded the presentation of this show recently so with some anticipation I viewed it. What a big mistake and what a waste of time. To borrow from just a few of the other reviewers here "pointless self indulgent" drivel. The story is all over the place and the writer appears to be making it up as he goes along. Apart from the daughter the two main characters come across as selfish uninteresting individuals who look and portray themselves as old: very old which in fact they are not.

The story in brief:

A father is obsessed with what he believes to be his "love" for his daughter, and meets a woman who has lost a child in a road accident and can't get over it. The father and the woman have an exceedingly boring love affair. Thats' it.

Add all sorts of unnecessary pretentious and phony sub plots. Beyond belief that this film won some awards. Proves can fool some of the people all of the time.

Lucky to get:

2/10.

Gideon's Daughter is a story of forgiveness and redemption.

[eleanortwiss · 9/10 · 19 February 2008]

Gideon's Daughter is a story of forgiveness and redemption. Gideon, an inveterate womanizer,leaves his young daughter, Natasha, at her mother's bedside while the mother lay dying. His phone calls to his women keep him away for 30 minutes. The mother dies and Natasha has no one there to comfort her. A homeless man has wandered into the room and sits beside Natasha, witness to the neglect at a critical time in her young life. This scene is one of the keys to understanding the story.

Years later, Gideon witnesses a protest regarding the lack of care by motorists for children on bicycles. Gideon meets a bohemian woman named Stella who becomes his friend. Lest he is never able to forgive himself, Stella convinces him to borrow her camera to attend and tape a performance by Natasha as she prepares to graduate from high school. Natasha is now a beautiful and talented young woman. She performs a song regarding her father and his women.

As Gideon develops a relationship with Stella, Gideon comes to learn of Stella's own lack of self-forgiveness over letting her young son go for his first bike ride without her. He is the child who was killed by a motorist during the protest Gideon had witnessed. This scene is also a key to understanding the story.

As their relationship progresses, together Gideon and Stella find forgiveness and redemption.

Kauffman

"The supreme act of courage is that of forgiving ourselves.

That which I was not but could have been.

That which I would have done but did not do.

Can I find the fortitude to remember in truth,

to understand, to submit, to forgive

and to be free to move on in time?"

A beautiful story of nothing....

[zazzoo · 9/10 · 16 February 2007]

I have now seen 'Gideon's Daughter' twice and still don't quite know how the man does it, whilst in it's glow you think it the most beautiful and spellbinding story and one wishes that it would never end. But once it does and you stand back, you realise it is actually about nothing at all, weak on story and overly sentimental and abusing the clichéd rules of scriptwriting (no telephone conversations, no narration, no flashbacks etc) with aloof disregard. You suddenly understand that a work of such quality does not have to follow antiquated misguidance, but can exist outside the usual trends and survive purely on it's own merits, characters, dialogue and empathy reign! SEE IT!

Wow!

[annewee · 10/10 · 14 March 2006]

Well. What can I really say? It was a marvellous peace of work! In scenes where Stella broke down, I broke down too. Poliakoff is just a genius beyond words and the cast with Miranda Richardson and Bill Nighy is absolutely stunning. Every scene of the film is a thrill and the performances of the cast is GREAT! The character I loved the most was naturally Stella. Stella is played bu Miranda Richardson and GOSH did I become moved! At the end of the movie, it just stroke me how much Stella is like me. At least the wardrobe (;)). The eclectic style and the fresh mind is exactly what moved me in a character. The crying scene is played magnificently by Miranda and I expect her to win an award for this movie. If she doesn't, I will make my own award and give to her. Bill Nighy also did a fantastic job as Gideon himself. My mouth dropped open....

And also the music moved me, and the song Gideon's daughter sings.

Tp put it all shortly; FANTASTIC!!!

Middle Aged Male Fantasy of Breakdown and Life Affirmation

[noralee · 3/10 · 26 March 2006]

"Gideon's Daughter" brings to a TV film a trend that is mostly obvious in literary fiction – the middle-aged man who thinks he is the center of the universe and the whole world revolves around him, and faces some kind of break down if any of his women show a bit of independence.

Written and directed by playwright Stephen Poliakoff, he mines similar territory as Cheever, Updike, Ford, Amis, Roth, etc. thrust into the center of English celebrity and political culture. The theme is even awkwardly made redundant by an odd structure of having another middle-aged man tell the tale to another pretty young woman and a mysterious kid.

Here, Bill Nighy's media consultant only perceives such events as Princess Diana's death or the upcoming millennium in terms of how it affects him. In press interviews, Nighy has said that Poliakoff intentionally directed him to play the main character as "stripped" but one certainly doesn't see how this catatonic schmoozer even got to his professional pinnacle. His past and current sexual adventures certainly seem more male fantasy than anything based on his charisma of any kind.

Tom Hardy, who was quite captivating as Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in the recent Queen Elizabeth I mini-series, shows much more suitable feistiness, as a cross between Jeremy Piven's agent in "Entourage" and Bradley Whitford's canny adviser in "The West Wing."

Miranda Richardson has the stereotyped role we've seen many times before of the quirky stranger (she dresses like an old hippie) from another class and lifestyle, but with a pained past with a child, who tempts him to play hooky and more. It is startlingly different for this genre that she is close to age appropriate.

A creepy centerpiece, and repeating motif, is the consultant's daughter (Emily Blunt getting to show little of the passion she displayed in "My Summer of Love") singing a lovely ballad in tribute to philanderer Georges Simenon's suicidal daughter. The story is particularly weakened by not seeing more of Blunt's life when she's not being the adoring daughter.

I really didn't get that a neglectful father who suddenly discovers he has paternal feelings is then to be considered "obsessive" rather than finally normal, even as she's about to leave the nest. His growing realization of his feelings is the best part of the film but a theme that all parents and grown children need to reconcile as adults-to-adults just drifts off.

About two people who have lost an only child

[rbeard · 10/10 · 30 July 2019]

Although it was "just" a TV movie, the TV network was the BBC. It was written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, a well-established creative mind. The story is about two people, Stella and Gideon who have lost an only child, one to death, the other to negligence. Stella had divorced her husband, who reacts violently to his loss. Stella remains calm and only occasionally indulges in sadness. Their child was taken by death.

Gideon, on the other hand, a superstar of big productions for the British government, realizes that he has neglected his daughter until she has become almost estranged from him. He recognizes the similarities in his and Stella's sadness and they connect--physically, intellectually, and spiritually. The movie is a quiet piece, the stillness broken only by Stella's husband at the onset of the story.

The movie is intentionally slow-moving, as one of the reviewers put it, "almost in real time." But for those capable of subtleties, the acting shows clearly the visible clues to both lead character's grief.

This movie is in a class with "Obsession" with Glynnis Paltrow and Sidney Pollack's last movie (I think), "Random Hearts". These are three of the most beautiful motion pictures I have watched, and I am an avid movie-goer.

Gideon's Daughter

[studioAT · 5/10 · 14 January 2021]

With a good central performance from Bill Nighy, and as a way of showing that Emily Blunt would go onto be a star, this is a good piece of drama.

Well worth a watch.

Outstanding

[kniferiver264 · 10/10 · 25 November 2023]

If you are looking for a deep and meaningful movie that opens your heart, try this one. The setting is London during the millennium followed by the death of Princes Diana. Over-th- top glitzy promotion and promoters are juxtaposed with ordinary people. We are not told this story, instead we are quietly walked through the characters emotional struggles. Avoidance, rage, shame and love are explored here by great acting. I thought the casting was successful and interesting and both leads looked as if they were enjoying their challenging roles. Music plays a small but important role in the story. First time in a long time since I had a cleansing cry and my husband as well.

Boring, Pretentious, Annoying

[deesestone · 1/10 · 9 June 2023]

Gideon, the mystery man, famous PR guy that everyone bows down to; his only weakness his daughter, ok, we get the point. He is sick of fame and yearns for the simple life. And finds it with Miranda Richardson, a badly dressed hippie type with twinkling lights in her bedroom. Unfortunately, every character in this story is annoying, except maybe the daughter, she is sullen and not talkative, which probably redeems her because not given the chance to be annoying. The narrator -- what is his function? To underline the obvious? This movie tried hard to be meaningful and moving but failed miserably. By the end, I really didn't care what happened to the daughter, that's how boring this movie was.

A disappointment from Poliakoff

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 20 June 2019]

This flat fragmented television film about a public relations tycoon Gideon Warner (Bill Nighy) was a disappointment from Stephen Poliakoff.

I found it notable for early roles for Emily Blunt who plays the semi estranged daughter Natasha who wants to leave her womanising father and Tom Hardy who plays Gideon's young, enthusiastic, right hand man.

The film is narrated by a writer Sneath played by Robert Lindsay who is dictating a book. The film spans the new dawn of a Labour landslide in the 1997 general election, to the death of Princess Diana and the Millennium celebrations. It was a time of spin doctors and celebrity culture.

The film just did not work. Gideon is a weary man who just lets his clients babble on. He seems to be interested in a couple who lost their son in a cycling accident. The mother Stella (Miranda Richardson) seperated from her husband and something about her attitude and how she deals with her grief intrigues him.

The film never deals as to why Natasha wants to head to the jungle once she leaves college. What is causing the resentment with her father.

Smeath himself was a superfluous character, there was no reason for him to be here. This should had been a quirky film that would delve into the zeitgeist of one of the great governments of the 20th century that came into power just as the century was about to end.