A flawed, warts-and-all portrait of the life of Australian composer Percy Grainger (1882-1961), played here by Richard Roxburgh, concentrating on his supposed incest with his loving, syphillis-crazed mum (Barbara Hershey), who, when she isn't going mad or getting too physically close to her son, is busy helping his career along in UK society. Where was Ken Russell when we needed him ? This play-based effort can boast lots of passion, funnily enough, but much less coherence and clarity, and it all seems dreadfully cramped, since Grainger's life is shoehorned into the short time he spent in London in 1914. Hershey is too good an actress to get stuck with these kind of roles, and is notably wobbly trying to cope with the material. A bewildering farrago, and no mistake, but a good-looking and often very striking one, with signs of considerable intelligence leaking out. FACT: Ken Russell made a film about the composer Delius, Song of Summer (1968), in which Grainger was played by David Collings.

©ipc tx. Film content from TVTimes