Absent-mindedness makes the heart grow fonder in this sober romance centred around an Alzheimers sufferer.

Julie Christie is Fiona, a young-at-heart pensioner undaunted by cross country skiing who suddenly begins to forget what wine is and sticks frying pans in the fridge.

Looking on aghast as her short-term memory seeps away is Grant, her devoted husband of forty-odd years (Pinsent, a deadringer for Bernard Hill).

Pretty soon it becomes apparent that Fiona cannot stay with hubby at their idyllic lakeside home...and must move into a residential home.

One of the rules of the care centre is that new arrivals must spend one month away from their nearest and dearest while they acclimatise to a world of high-backed plastic loungers and the radiators turned on full.

Unfortunately, Fiona completely forgets about poor old Grant during this four-week period and shifts her affections to a fellow resident, the wheelchair-bound Aubrey (Michael Murphy).

Actress-turned-writer/director Sarah Polly treats a difficult subject with a lightness of touch aided by sympathetic performances from the two leads.

Christie in particular - a million miles from the sex bomb of the sixties - invests her character with a gentle decency.

Tim Evans