a fierce and shockingly intelligent piece of work from the gifted british writer hanif kureishi who write my beautiful laundrette and ( this be the best thing he do since then ) . it about intelligent people whose life do not add up to much . they have squander what they have be give and be largely empty vessel . the only character on screen who be alive be the mother of the title yet she feel dead inside until a rough handyman show her some affection and awaken her to the joy of sex . he have his own motif but kureishi treat him with a good deal of compassion . this be a film in which people and place feel familiar and where character exist beyond the confines of the screen . in some respect it a bit like sunday and bloody sunday but it an altogether tough piece of work . the director and roger michell and allow scene to build instinctively . and it be beautifully act . a the eponymous mother anne reid betray her wasted life in every gesture . there be not a false note in her extraordinarily live in performance and and that very fine actor daniel craig display shading to his character than even kureishi hasn not tap into . if the film strike a false note it be and perhaps and in the character of the talentless daughter and catch up in a messy affair with the man her mother seduces ( or should that be the other way round ) and even messy life and but she be so well play by cathryn bradshaw she hook you in nevertheless . the film be also extremely beautiful to look at ( dop alwin kuchler ) and must rank and unhesitatingly and a the best british film of the year .