The Waiting Room - out now
The Waiting Room tells the story of two groups of friends, both living and working in South London, which have no connection with one another - until a chance encounter in a railway station waiting room throws their lives into disarray.
Roger Goldby’s wistful debut drama about love and loneliness in London opens in a golden autumnal haze. The pretty single mum Anna (Anne-Marie Duff) is seen sneaking off upstairs with her lover George as they grab a brief passionate moment together while the children watch TV.
But when the whimpering househusband is later seen taking his own child back home to his career driven wife, who happens to be Anna’s best friend, we realise that the trio’s lives are far more broken than the initial rosy tableau would suggest.
Meanwhile, in a different thread, Stephen is debating whether to stay with his broody girlfriend Fiona. Even her parents are putting pressure on the couple to start a family, but Stephen is unsure whether he can commit. His work at the local old people’s home, and his friendship with the resident Helen, keeps him grounded.
Then one day Anna and Stephen meet in the eponymous station waiting room. Stephen has brought one of his elderly charges to wait for his late wife – a daily ritual. Listening to the older man recalling special moments he spent with his wife, the two youngsters share a moment of their own. Without exchanging names or numbers, both are smitten from that point onwards.
This is a film full of telling detail and subtle messages. George, belittled by his wife’s cold careerism, cuts a rather pathetic figure in his dogged obsession with Anna. When the domesticated Stephen is filmed urinating before wearily mopping up any drops which have fallen to the floor lest he raise his girlfriend’s hackles once again, we know the relationship is headed towards ruin.
The Waiting Room is very much a British affair that captures well the feelings of entrapment experienced by adults in unhappy and demanding relationships; yet it is delivered with a tinge of hope and good humour. If Hollywood chick flicks are your idea of high romance then Goldby’s plaintive feature is unlikely to cut much ice. But, offering a thought-provoking slice of suburban Weltschmerz, The Waiting Room is a real tear-jerker, and a perfect antidote to saccharine rom-coms from across the pond, such as the newly released Made of Honour.
