Thank goodness there's an upbeat ending to this unpleasant and gruelling yet moving and scarily real movie about the teenage years , in the Fifties, of short story writer Tobias Wolff.

Toby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his mother Caroline (Ellen Barkin) are on the run from her latest ill-chosen and violent lover.

Toby is soon on the verge of juvenile delinquency when Caroline marries Dwight (Robert De Niro) who proves to be another ranting, bullying tyrant.

The three star performances are superbly subtle, with Barkin oustanding, and this is a memorable trip to the dark side of human nature.