A portrait of the artist L.S. Lowry and the relationship with his mother, who tries to dissuade him from pursuing his passion.
As the title indicates, this is very much a film about Lowry's mother Elizabeth, a chronically ill malingerer, housebound and demanding. She despises almost every one of his early canvases, but when she warms to a picture of ships in the local canal and gives him two shillings to submit it to an exhibition in Manchester, she opens the door to his future glory. A showdown at home is the dramatic climax of this essentially domestic and un-dramatic narrative. Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave give performances which we have seen in other films, subtly shaded to fit this restrained and evocative story. Adrian Noble has directed a slow-burning movie with few "fireworks", but it offers an acting (and painting) master-class.