As Jean, Blethyn is overwhelmed by suppressed resentment. She clings to the idea that she could have been a big star if not weighed down by the husband from whom she is split and the two sons she has, one of whom is spastic. But when she is able to appear at local functions, we see that her bawdy comic routines are passé musical hall stuff, and we are embarrassed for her when she falls flat. Her excuse of having left England to move to Australia at the urging of her husband doesn’t wash.

Jean also wants to exert control over her sons, all she really has. When Tim (Kahn Chittenden) meets Jill, a charming young woman played by charming Emma Booth, who is more experienced than he is in sex, Jean resents his falling in love. Tim, in addition to coping with his budding but strained relationship with Jill, must deal with the nagging pressure from mom.

Tim has an ongoing relationship with his dad, who works as a security guard but who clings to dreams of his own to become a singer with a record hit and has his own list of grievances. Tim is especially close to his brother, Mark, played with extraordinary effectiveness by Richard Wilson, who has learned to deal with his handicap but nevertheless is vulnerable. He also can try to be manipulative with Tim, but one of the joys of the film is the portrait of their brotherly bond. It is also heartening to observe the way Tim, Jill and her girlfriend include Mark in some of their activities, such as encouraging him to learn to skate. The film also tenderly follows Mark’s romantic efforts with a young woman in his group of challenged young people.

There are frank sexual scenes between Tim and Jill, who has the double task of getting him to be relaxed with her and not make her feel unwanted, and winning over Jean from her resistance for fear of losing her son in the competition she creates.

Blethyn has a big, defining scene with an emotional explosion in which she loses it, but gets to have her say about what she feels she has been denied.