By Gene Gutowski Roman Polanski
Set in Denmark, it's essentially a story of a young disabled girl, Winnie (Beatie Edney) and her 'uncle' Bernie (Mark Burns), who takes her out on a rainy morning for that 'day at the beach'. We discover Bernie is both an alcoholic and something of a rogue, not averse to the odd temper tantrum either, although Winnie thinks he's wonderful. Well, she's a child; you tend to overlook deficiencies in others. At the beach (albeit in the pouring rain) becomes nothing more than an excuse for Bernie to drink as much as possible with the money he's been given to keep Winnie amused. As Bernie and Winnie discover the charms of the Danish seaside in the early 70s - taking in cafes, a gift shop (run by Peter Sellers), several bars, the seafront and the inside of a bubble car. As they pass through each place, the film gets ever darker as Bernie's attention shifts away from Winnie and onto his next drink. Playing hide and seek as evening falls, tangled in some old fishing boat netting and just wandering on a dark beach as he finds himself at the bottom of a hole in the sand. No, he's not a classy drunk. A few shades of light and dark are also added by the motley assortment of characters they meet along the way - Sellers of course, plus a ' jobs worth' deckchair attendant, the local gangster, a poet and his wife and the bar and cafe owners. More dark than light in truth, but interesting nonetheless. Which leaves me with a film I can hardly recommend as a 'must watch' but would certainly recommend to hire. It's strange, it's odd and it's dark - but for a rainy afternoon, it's just the thing - if only to remind yourself that your day could be going far, far worse.
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