''My Life So Far'' is a 1999 film about a year in the life of a ten-year-old Scottish boy. It was directed by

Hugh Hudson Hugh Hudson (25 August 1936 – 10 February 2023) was an English film director. He was among a generation of British directors who would begin their career making documentaries and television commercials before going on to have success in film ...

, with screenplay by Simon Donald. The film is set in 1927 and is based on ''Son of Adam'', the

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

s of Denis Forman, a British television executive.

Plot

The film tells the story of how the Pettigrew family, living in their family estate Kiloran House in Scotland, deal with changes brought by the end of World War I, told through the point of view of one of the Pettigrew children, Fraser (Robert Norman). The family is headed by the maternal grandmother MacIntosh (Rosemary Harris), affectionately known as "Gamma", whose decisions are to be obeyed without question. Gamma's son Morris (Malcolm McDowell) left home to build a career for himself and become a well-to-do businessman; while her younger daughter Moira (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) followed the traditional route – she fell in love with Edward Pettigrew (Colin Firth), gave up becoming an opera singer and settled down at her family estate to raise a large family. Edward typical of country gentry – owns a minor business (turning

sphagnum moss ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store water, since ...

into medical dressings), pious and defender of traditional values (gives a speech at every Sunday service), loves and listens only to

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

and has a passion for inventions and mechanical improvements all over the estate. All of which are laughed at by Morris, who lives in London but comes back to visit often, as he is competing with Edward to inherit the estate after Gamma passes away; they mutually loathe each other. Edward does not appreciate and resists changes in the world, but the harder he tries, the more things fall apart. Morris and his beautiful and charming French fiancée Heloise (Irène Jacob) introduce

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

to the children ("the sound of the devil speaking" according to Edward). An emergency landing brings the eldest daughter Elspeth's (Kelly Macdonald) first suitor – French show pilot Gabriel Chenoux (Tchéky Karyo). Fraser finds grandfather MacIntosh's hidden book collection, and to rebel against his father, sets out to read them all. He misunderstands the definition of "

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

", and believing it to be a business term, suggests to all guests at Morris and Heloise's engagement party that Moira, Heloise and Gamma should go into prostitution to enhance the moss business. Worst of all, Edward makes a pass at Heloise prior to the wedding. During a

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

game held in her husband's honor, Gamma falls through the ice into the lake, which shortly causes her death by

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. She bequeathed the estate to Edward, leading to a physical altercation between Edward and Morris at her wake, during which Edward claims that Morris lost more than the estate to him. Thereby, Moira finally confronts him, saying she has been aware of him and Heloise all along. Months pass before Edward finally wins back Moira, and the family settles back into its old routine. On a Sunday morning, all Pettigrews are heading to church, except Fraser. Edward finds him relaxing in a chaise longue in the library, looking at one of grandfather MacIntosh's pornographic books with a cognac glass filled with milk in one hand and a lit cigar in the other, swaying his head and body to

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

's "

On the Sunny Side of the Street "On the Sunny Side of the Street" is a 1930 song composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Some authors say that Fats Waller was the composer, but he sold the rights to the song. It was introduced in the Broadway musical '' Lew Lesli ...

" (a secret gift from Heloise). Instead of being angry, he smiles and closes the door, leaving Fraser to enjoy himself.

Cast

Colin Firth Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor and producer. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Colin Firth, several accolades, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Aw ...

as Edward Pettigrew * Rosemary Harris as Gamma MacIntosh * Irène Jacob as Aunt Heloise *

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (born November 17, 1958) is an American actress and singer. She made her Broadway debut in the 1980 revival of ''West Side Story'', and went on to appear in the 1983 film '' Scarface'' as Al Pacino's character's si ...

as Moira 'Mumsie' Pettigrew *

Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is an English actor. He first became known for portraying Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's ''if....'' (1968), a role he later reprised in ''O Lucky Man!'' (1973) and ''Britannia Hospital ...

as Uncle Morris MacIntosh * Robert Norman as Fraser Pettigrew *

Tchéky Karyo Tchéky Karyo (; born Baruh Djaki Karyo; 4 October 1953) is a Turkish-born French actor and musician. Beginning his career as an actor on stage in classical and contemporary works, he began to work as a character actor in films in the 1980s. He h ...

as Gabriel Chenoux * Kelly Macdonald as Elspeth Pettigrew * Titus MacTavish as village boy * Jamie MacTavish as a gardener * Douglas Forrest as Colin Firth body double

Reception

''My Life So Far'' received fairly positive reviews from critics, as it currently holds a 70% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on 27 reviews.

References

External links

* * *
Roger Ebert's review of the film
{{Hugh Hudson 1999 films British biographical films British coming-of-age comedy-drama films Films based on biographies Films based on British books Films directed by Hugh Hudson Films set in 1927 Films set in Scotland Films produced by David Puttnam Films scored by Howard Blake 1990s English-language films 1990s British films