The Leisure Seeker Review

The Leisure Seeker Review – Spoiler Free

The Leisure Seeker is a film which comes directed by Paolo Virzì and stars Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland. The film is about an old couple which decide to travel together on a holiday in their old RV. But not all is good with our old couple and they have a lot of issues to deal with, much of them to do with their deteriorating health in their old age.

Going into this film I wasn’t too sure if I really wanted to watch it. Both Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren are both fantastic actors. But when looking at the trailer, it seemed like a movie that wasn’t really for me as a young person who likes to go watch blockbusters at the cinema. This looked to me like a movie that maybe older people might enjoy, but I was a little wrong to think like that. The movie is something people of almost all ages can go watch.

The Leisure Seeker does however deal with some I guess unpleasant themes to see. The themes in this film are mostly to do with death, getting old and also sickness. The character that Donald Sutherland plays, John, is a well respected English teacher that knows a lot about Hemingway. For his whole life he’s been a very intelligent and well respected individual. But at the point of his life where we meet him, he’s old and his memory isn’t too good. He’s suffering from alzheimers or maybe dementia or both. It’s a sad thing to watch the film and see a character sort of deteriorating as he is and his wife, Ella (Helen Mirren) is quite strained taking care of him. Although Ella is not without her own share of health issues too.

I think what this film does is bring awareness to audiences about things that happen to elderly people that maybe aren’t really discussed in the media or put out there all that much. For example other than the occasional characters I’ve seen with these symptoms in films, I’ve never seen one with a main character suffering from them. Coming out of this film I had a greater understanding of these conditions and how the can effect people. But should you go and see The Leisure Seeker though?

I would say you should go and see it, particularly if you enjoy the actors involved in the film. While the themes in this movie are a little sad, it does have a light hearted tone to it, with the occasional funny moments here and there all throughout it. I thought that it was a good choice from the film’s director Paolo Virzì to keep the film’s tone light because the themes were so dark. Characters like Ella and John were written realistically enough. There are some very touching scenes in this film, but also some very dark character moments, which will give audience viewers quite a bit to discuss when they come out of it.

Overall it’s worth viewing this week. But might be a bit different compared to the major blockbusters, comedies or romance films most usually go to the cinema for. If anything, it’s a unique film that deals some important issues that old people face and will give audience members a great deal of insight into conditions like Alzheimer’s. Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren do their best in this film and it’s a good thing that it had such great actors because should the wrong ones have been chosen, it could have went really bad. Luckily it’s okay.