‘Onwards and Sideways’ Review: Lovely Turns by Laura Linney and Rhys Ifans Lift John Madden’s Parkinson’s Dramedy

The inherent challenge in making films dealing with progressive illness is not succumbing to an inescapably formulaic structure that can’t help but go with the territory. We pretty much know from the outset that, no matter the character’s starting point, their life will diminish physically going forward, although there will likely be some form of spiritual awakening along their journey. How that journey is navigated is the key to the production being successful in rising above convention.

John Madden‘s Onwards and Sideways succeeds better than most in avoiding the pitfalls. The dramatic comedy, tracing the growing bond between two individuals who happen to be handed a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis on the same day at the same clinic, never creates any illusions that it’s going to completely break from conformity. But thanks to a script that bristles with irreverence and vitality (written by Paul Mayhew-Archer, who has been living with Parkinson’s since 2011), and especially a pair of virtuoso, fully inhabited performances by Rhys Ifans and Laura Linney, even though we’re well aware of where all this is headed, we’re willingly in it for the duration.

Onwards and Sideways

The Bottom Line Gracefully acted and directed.

Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Gala Presentations)
Cast: Rhys Ifans, Laura Linney, Rory Kinnear, Monica Dolan
Director: John Madden
Screenwriter: Paul Mayhew-Archer
1 hour 55 minutes

Following its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, the film is scheduled for release in the UK on Nov. 6 but is in the market for a North American distributor.

First introduced in full Captain Hook regalia, widower Tony (Ifans) is clearly a fully-engaged primary school teacher who loves what he does. But when he notices that his right hand appears to be drooping limply at his side, he schedules an appointment to rule out anything serious.

“You don’t have a brain tumor,” assures the doctor (Rory Kinnear). “But you do have Parkinson’s disease.” He’s given a rundown of all that he can expect, including a prognosis of five good years, give or take, with the addition of meds, and, if they don’t work, deep brain stimulation, involving the surgical implant of a sort of pacemaker that would reduce tremors and involuntary movements.

While waiting for his controlling sister Liz (Monica Dolan) to fill his prescriptions, he runs into Linney’s equally shellshocked Emma, an American composer and musician who has just been given the same diagnosis. But where Tony’s default is to remain in a state of denial (he opts not to tell the administration about it for as long as possible), the outgoing Emma proceeds to embrace the challenge head-on, joining a Parkinson’s ballet class and speaking at schools, unafraid to demonstrate her increasing symptoms in front of the young students.

During one of those talks, she shows up at Tony’s school, where she assumes he’s informed the headmaster of his affliction. But although it’s clear they remain philosophically at odds, as they cross paths over the course of the following couple of “good years” it’s evident there’s a growing bond between them that goes beyond their illness.

Ifans, perhaps best known for his more energetic turns in films like Notting Hill and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, delivers an achingly thoughtful performance, allowing the realization of the weight of his diagnosis to slowly register across his face to deeply moving effect.

Linney, who initially comes across as the cheerleader of the two — jokingly introducing herself as “Emma with the tremma” — is equally affecting as she struggles to maintain that clear-eyed idealism in the face of ever-diminishing capability and an online gambling addiction made worse by medication that affects impulse control.

Madden, whose most popular films, including Shakespeare in Love and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, always work in the service of their casts, demonstrates an unforced touch that allows both the story and his leads ample room to breathe. As is the case with the characters, he never permits the disease to hijack the life of the film.

Thanks to Mayhew-Archer’s valuable firsthand perspective (he also hosts the podcast Movers and Shakers, and appears as a sardonic ballet class member here), the film is not without its share of genuinely humorous moments, not to mention some more startling sequences. Those include the harrowing night terrors Tony begins to experience — intense, frightening nightmares that cause people with Parkinson’s to violently act out in their sleep.

Given all it has in its favor, the one notable detraction is Madden’s over-reliance on frequent collaborator Thomas Newman’s melodic score, which is too often called upon to provide accentuation in sequences where none is necessary. There’s more than sufficient emotional weight in those lyrical performances.

Defying the odds, Onwards and Sideways emerges as a stirring lesson on learning to address the inevitable with grace and acceptance.