Jean-Baptiste and Blethyn play off each other very well as reunited mom and daughter. Hortense is a black woman, who was adopted by a black couple earlier in life, and now is searching for her real mother. Cynthia is a white woman, struggling as a single mother, who appears to be the lost mother in question.

Hortense finds Cynthia, and after the initial shock wears off, both women slowly warm up to each other. The reunion is deeply satisfying to both mother and daughter, although it brings up some major concerns. Cynthia is torn about keeping the truth hidden from her family, her brother, Morris, a photographer, his wife, Monica, and Cynthia's twenty-one-year-old daughter, Roxanne.

This picture exposes the kind of racism that exists in England, as well as the differences between working class and middle class people in that country.

From the visually impaired point of view, this is clearly a tale of two movies. The first part of the picture was nothing less than torture for me. For the first twenty minutes or so there were numerous abrupt scene changes, lots of music, very little dialogue and absolutely no names given to identify who was speaking. All the characters had sharp, English working class accents and it was very difficult to distinguish one voice from another.

Just when I was ready to give up on this one, things shifted completely. The characters began using each other's names, the dialogue picked up and the scene changes slowed down to an acceptable pace. The accents were still a little tricky to understand, but I did adapt.

I'm noticing somewhat of a pattern in movies these days, from the visually impaired point of view. That is, the first part of a movie is abrupt, chaotic and vague, and in the last two thirds or so, things come together with slower action that is much easier to follow.