Dr Sharon Hayes

I was at first taken in by the attractive everydayness of Tom and Gerri and their obviously great relationship. But as the movie progressed I found them to be rather insular and self-satisfied, judgemental towards their struggling friends, and not very empathic to any of them. In one of the opening scenes, the incomparable Imelda Staunton plays a very unhappy wife/mother (who cannot sleep) who attends the clinic where Gerri is a counsellor and asks the GP for pills to help. The GP is quite condescending in their questioning about her condition, paying little to no attention to the fact that this poor woman is close to losing it, and offers a one-week prescription in exchange for seeing the counsellor. Gerri is that counsellor, and proves to be just as self-satisfying and judgmental. Of course, they are more concerned with the root cause of her sleep issue but fail to see the immediate need for medication. The rest of the movie is more of the same. Self-satisfied and unaware professionals and friends dealing with and judging those who have had a bad time or suffered trauma and can't cope. Overall, I found the movie annoying, but also found myself watching it a few times to try to make sense of it.