La Grazia, Father Mother Sister Brother and The Drama

 

I was off to the Rex in Berkhamsted to see the Italian film La Grazia. It was written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, whose earlier movie Parthenope I enjoyed. (See review of 15th May 2025). His new film stars long-time collaborator Toni Servillo as President Mariano De Santis, who is coming to the end of his presidency. An outstanding performance that won him best actor at the Venice Film Festival. 

Here he's a top lawyer turned politician, and in his last days as president he has two main issues to resolve, both of which require him to grant pardons or not. As well as signing off an Act of Parliament on euthanasia. He is assisted in his office by his daughter Doratea, splendidly played by Anna Ferzetti, who has her own views. There is a masterful performance from Servillo, a little too downbeat, as though through it all is the ghost of his dead wife, and with whom did she have an affair? But the best scenes for me are those with an old friend, Coco. 

John Bleasdale in April's Sight and Sound Magazine calls it the director's "most graceful film". Other critics were equally impressed. 

Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, Father Mother Sister Brother is made up of three separate stories. Set in three different countries, the locations are New Jersey, Dublin and Paris. There is absolutely no connection between the characters. Each one starts in a car; the first two have siblings on their way to visit a parent (they are not the easiest people, having lost their partner). The last two children lost both parents in an accident. 

In Part 1, Adam Driver (the best that I have seen him) and Mayim Bialik find their way to the isolated cabin where their father lives, seemingly on the edge of poverty. Tom Waits was born to play the role of this scoundrel. His pleads of poverty include covering that expensive couch with an old rug and leaving out a load of clutter. Also forgetting to hide his expensive Rolex, which he then declares is a fake. Refusing to let his son see the repairs he paid for. Dressing in old clothes but changing after the children leave. They do not stay that long, but it's that final twist that upset me so much. In the car going home Adam Driver has a clue something isn't right. As Peter Bradshaw said in The Guardian, "Who are or were our parents?"

On an annual visit to their mother (Charlotte Rampling), one of the daughters in Part 2 (played by Vicki Krieps) never closes the gate, throws her coat anywhere, gets her mother to pay for a taxi and even opens a box of books without asking. Her sister (an unrecognisable Cate Blanchett) is the opposite, with awful short severe hair, terrible clothes and glasses. I did wonder if this was all put on for her mother. She has laid out a perfect tea, and we wonder if she ever wanted children. She cannot wait for them to leave, as do they. But are they all playing games? See they all have that red in their clothes.

Both parents are missing in Part 3. The brother and sister have a strong bond as they muse on their parent's tragic accident. But did they really know their parents, driving off to some isolated mountain? The siblings are driving through Paris to a lockup with their parents' few possessions. Those views through the car windows are spectacular. Critic Mark Kermode said it was "the least engaging" of the three. But I thought its relaxed feeling was far better and contrasted with the difficult atmosphere of the first two.

There are definitely connections between the three stories. There are always two children. Did they ever know their parents? Did they ever want children? All three start and end in a car. In every story someone says, "Bob's your uncle." In all three there are skateboarders. (Hmm). In the first two there is hardly anything said about what they are doing in their lives. In all three the children have lost at least one parent. 

Previous films by director Jim Jarmusch include Only Lovers Left Alive and Broken Flowers. Both on DVD, which I can order sometime. His latest film made a big impression.

I just wish I could have avoided The Drama. It was just not my kind of film. It reminded me of all those TV shows that I purposefully do not watch. That is to say it's not poorly presented. The screenplay, the acting and direction are all fine. But somehow the story just did not add up. Robert Pattinson as Charlie seems a high-flyer at work, but he acts like a stupid child. Zendaya is more grounded but has a difficult background (not that you would have guessed as the person her father describes). 

I was even less impressed with the shock of the McGuffin that haunts the whole movie. Or the unravelling of Charlie. The film is written and directed by Kristoffer Bogli. I didn't like his film Dream Scenario (see post 13th December 2023), so why did I not read that first? There is no review in my Sight and Sound magazine, so I should have known. One review said it was an "unsettling cringe film", and Mark Kermode said it was "excruciating". Both were quite right. I sometimes avoid reviews so I can go into a film without any knowledge. It didn't work this time. One final note. One of the cast was Alana Haim. I seem to see every film in which she appears. 

The Land in Winter, The British Museum Is Falling Down and Karla's Choice

 

The book starts on 7th December 1962. So where was I? I was very nearly eighteen and halfway through my last year at school, studying (not very hard) for my three A-Levels. Here, the country doctor Eric Parry is visiting patients. His wife Irene is pregnant and finding it hard to motivate herself, even though she was always known as a hard worker. Eric then visits the asylum where a patient has committed suicide on the pills he prescribed.

Across the field from their home live Bill and Rita (also pregnant). trying hard to make a go of their farm. Of course, Irene and Rita become friends. This, for me, was the best part of the book, as they talk about their lives with lots of personal stuff. (When one of them "tries to settle on the dial for Radio Luxembourg. The signal came and went", (it took me back to our old radio). Not sure she would be listening to the American Marcie Blane singing "Bobby's Girl", as in this country it would have been Susan Maughn. There is a lovely conversation with Rita when Bill says, "Posh people think my father's a jumped-up little immigrant, which he is. They'd send him back if they could work out where he came from."

A week later we hear about a crucial part of the story when Eric has a secret tryst with Alison. Meanwhile Rita and Irene are off on a trip to the cinema. "A year from now it'll be bingo." How right they were. Boxing Day is the day of the party, and everyone is there. Another marvellous chapter. Crucially, snow is on the way, and that historic weather event is central to the rest of the book. But it's Irene's discovery of what her husband was up to and what she does about it that I found less than enthralling. So the last third I found is all a bit of a jumble. The ending, though, is very unexpected, even traumatic, but with a sense that there will be something closer in the future for the two couples.

This is one of David Lodge's very early novels, more of a novella of only 160 pages. It was written quickly in 1964, during a year in America while on leave from his job at the University of Birmingham. Adam Appleby is twenty-five and already has three children and is agonising whether a fourth is on the way. Catholicism, and its teaching about birth control, plays a stern and worrying role. Adam does not even have a proper job, as his studies take him every day to the Britich Museum.

Each day he starts off with good intentions, but somehow the fates are against his studies. What follows is a series of what might be termed 'comedic misadventures', but with an unexpected and highly unlikely bonus at the end. The book is written with style and the intelligent prose the author honed over the years.

It's the spring of 1963. (I have "A"-level exams about to start.) George Smiley is recently retired from the Circus, the UK's intelligence service. Settling down happily with his wife Anne. Until he is needed back because he is the one best placed to find out what has happened to Mr Banati. He runs a literary agency with his assistant Sussanah Giro. She comes face to face with Miki who was about to assassinate said Banati but changes his mind after the latter has done a bunk.

So a reasonable beginning is followed by a turgid first third of the book. This is not easy reading. There are periods when we get a long backstory of a new character. Even near the end this also happens. There is no momentum to the story. It all seems a bit pointless and difficult. There is hardly any plot, and nothing much happens. Even a predictable chase near the end is over so quickly. We end up first in Berlin and then in Vienna, the author trying to emulate his father's fascination for Eastern Europe of the sixties.

Is it that the book is so poorly written that I was glad when it was finished? It took me so long to read, especially the last third. It never takes me three weeks to read a book just under 300 pages. I was glad when it was all over.

Bluebells and Beech - Pavis Wood - 2026

 

I have posted most years about the bluebells in Pavis Wood. On Saturday morning at 9am I walked from the car park in Wendover Woods near Go Ape and walked south through the trees until I met The Ridgeway.

This takes me across fields until I meet the entrance to Pavis Wood. This is a pretty isolated part of the Chilterns, but it's not that far to a large area of bluebells. As there is nowhere to park for that mile and a half to Wendover Woods, it is always very quiet. There are paths through the bluebells, so it's nice to be surrounded by the flowers with no one else around.

At the same time the bluebells are in flower, the beech trees are coming into leaf. Their bright green leaves are spectacular.

Garden in mid April

 

The maypole cherry is colourful at this time of year. Unlike the flower border where even the late flowering daffodils and tulips are nearly over.

The clematis montana is at it's best, but unfortunately a whole mass fell off the wall a month ago. I have fixed a wire at it's highest level and encouraged some stems to find their way there.

I'm quite pleased with these hostas (fire and ice) that I replanted. For the moment, not a snail in sight.

The same goes for these at the side of the house. Snails apparently do not like dry, sunny conditions.

These are the same hostas that were actually blue a few years ago. See post 11th August 2021. I have a label which says they were Hosta tardiana 'Hadspen Blue'. Except for using Pl@ntNet, they are called Hosta sieboldiana. But that is after having lost the blue colour, which does happen over the years. It seems there is a crossover between the two.

The yellow flower I now find is a Welsh poppy or Papaver cambricum.

Next door in the main border is the Muscari or grape hyacinth.

Further along is the Camassia leichtlinii 'Caerulea' that I once thought was a weed.

Also in flower is the dwarf crab apple.

In the conservatory I planted this areca palm – Dypsis lutescens. What I really wanted was a bougainvillaea, but it was not available locally.

I won some garden stuff in a raffle and these are seed bombs.

The instructions said just to throw them on the soil. We shall see.

Last of all, the wallflowers are hanging on. They do prefer it by a wall.

Family History Revisited Part 1 - How It All Began

 

I haven't recently thought about my family history until now, when I realised that there were things I had done and not recorded before I started this blog. So, what I want to do now is to summarise the highlights of my searches in chronological order. There will be little about the family members themselves and more about the process of their discovery. 

First Thoughts

First of all, I found it difficult to remember how this all started. What I do know is that I had certain documents about my father's ancestors, so it was this side of the family upon which I first concentrated. I also found this post on my blog dated 2nd February 2007, only eight weeks after my very first post.

Mum and Dad

In April 1999, I was sorting through papers from files left by my stepmother, Margaret. It was then that I started thinking more about Mum and Dad and their life together. How they came from very different backgrounds and became the first generation from both families to move away from Yorkshire. I have already made a few notes from talking to various aunts, but there is a lot stored in the memory banks that I need to set down. I then thought I would like to know more about their ancestors.

Family History

So in the September of 1999, I found an evening class in genealogy. This gave some good advice on tracing family history. I spent the next two years doing all the basic research, meeting relatives etc and I came to the point when it would mean a lot of travel to local archives throughout the country and time on the computer to write up my findings. I decided to put everything on hold until I retired. When my new computer arrives, I want to purchase "Family Historian 3" which seems to be the best bit of software recording details of all my ancestors and creating charts.

Genealogy of the Family of Roberts of Sheffield 1937

I was already in possession of some important documents that set me on my way. The first is the "Genealogy of the Family of Roberts of Sheffield 1937" (see photo at the top), recorded in my post on December 1st 2008: "The 1937 Family Tree". It was one of a few drafted by Charles Augustus Roberts, and this version ended up with my great-grandfather Vincent Littlewood Roberts. This was for him to enter his descendants in the blank spaces under his name. But this never happened.

I believe this document came into the possession of my grandmother and then on to my father. It provided extremely useful information for the start of my searches, although not always completely accurate. 

My Evening Class

Dragging down all my files from the loft (four lever arch files and some loose paperwork) what I didn't expect to find were my notes from that very first meeting of the family history evening class of 23rd September 1999.

If I remember correctly, one of the documents we were given at the first meeting was a birth brief for recording family information. Below is an extract from mine. 

Some Memorials of the Family of Roberts

There are five editions of the book "Some Memorials of the Family of Roberts of Queens Tower, Sheffield". The first published by Sir Samuel Roberts of Queens Tower, Sheffield is dated 1862. On the distribution was my great grandfather Vincent Littlewood Roberts. It came into my possession through my grandfather and father. It was a loose leaf copy that I had made into a book. It contains various handwritten amendments made by Vincent.  

I also found a copy of the the third edition dated 1924 that also came into the possession of my father. It confirms the second edition was published by Samuel Roberts of Park Grange in May 1887, and then this third edition by Samuel Roberts of Eaton Place, London. 

I then met his descendent Sir Samuel Roberts just before Christmas 1999 at the London office of Henry Boot on Conduit Street. He gave me a copy of the latest book published by his father Peter Roberts in August 1971.

Like the earlier edition, the book contains a family tree. It includes one Jacob Roberts (from whom I am descended), the elder brother of Samuel Roberts, who is the ancestor of Sir Samuel Roberts above. 

In the "Introduction Extended", Peter Roberts says, "In 1970 a special study of the area of Holmfirth was carried out." This led to discovering more ancestors, including one Oliver Roberts, born 1496? as the document below. 

Finally, I found that the present Sir Samuel Roberts updated the Memorials book with his large volume, "Follow the Master". I found a copy that contains only a couple of pages relating to our side of the family.

The Seventeen Generations of the Roberts Family

I did in fact list all Roberts descendents in my post of 6th March 2023. If we now add my brother Paul's grandson, this makes eighteen. 

Therefore, all the research had been done for everything before our common ancestor Jacob Roberts born 1697. My post of 6th March 2023 details all the male descendents from Jacob Roberts below.

Sheffield Family History Society

I became a member of the Sheffield Family History Society in the spring of 1999. Their journals and publications provided useful information. Their publications included that vital Sheffield Burials Index and the link to the Church of All Saints, Ecclesall, which I visited on 15th June 2009. See post 22nd June 2009.

Visit to Sheffield 29th December 1999

This visit should not be confused with that later visit in 2009, as noted above. My notes from that first visit are as follows: 

Below is the Roberts Memorial in Dore Churchyard. The inscriptions are for David Littlewood Boyd Roberts, an uncle who died in infancy; my grandfather, Stanley Boyd Roberts; and my grandmother, Edith Haywood Roberts. See notes above.

As this takes us to the end of 1999, it feels the right way to end Part 1. I have not yet started my searches for records of my family, but this comes next at the Family Record Centre in Islington. 

Family History Revisited Part 2 - The Early Searches

 

The Family Record Centre

I first visited the Family Record Centre in Islington in early 2000. Situated in Taylor House, 1 Myddelton Street, Clerkenwell, it opened in 1997 and provided a vast amount of free information well before it all became available on the internet. Long rows of tall shelves housed huge volumes that one could study to record births, marriages, and deaths. It was then possible to take your results to the desk and order certificates. Over the next few years I found records for seventeen of my father's family and nineteen of my mother's, starting in February of 2000. 

George and Jane Askew

The 1841 to 1901 census returns were also available at the Family Record Centre on microfiche. My post of 11th January 2011 details one of my big breakthroughs when, on 5th July 2000, I found the 1891 census records for George and Jane Askew, my mother's grandparents. These included records for their children, my mother's aunts of whom there was never any mention. These were "The Five Eldest Askew Sisters" in that post of 11th January 2011. See also my post of 7th January 2011. 

The Family Record Centre was closed in 2008, and the huge volumes are no longer accessible. 

Correspondents

I have two lever-arch files of correspondence. In no particular order they include Chris Rathbone, Nigel Buchanan, Liz Smith, Patricia Anning, Dawn Crofts, Kath Swarbrick, John Thomson, Gillian Leather, and Sally Stamford. Also, Ruth at Lincolnshire Family History Society. In addition, there is a lengthy letter from W G Hunt, the Windsor Herald of Arms. 

Then the relatives of my family: Peter Clifford, Aunt Molly, Aunt Joy, Aunt Iris, and cousins Caroline and Stephen. 

Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths

I conducted searches at various locations such as the Family Record Centre, Aylesbury Library, and finally online.

Census Records

The following census records have proved invaluable: 1841, 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1901. I started off with those records on microfiche at the Family Record Centre, then those at the Aylesbury Library, and finally online. 

Ancestry and the International Genealogical Index

Both Ancestry and the IGI have been of little use in my searches. 

Search Notes

My notes and records are pretty much haphazard but are all in my files.