TELLURIDE – There is a moment toward the end of Mike Leigh‘s latest gem, “Tender Loving Care,” when Amy (Kate O’Flynn) is crouched at the bedside of her ailing father. Geoff (Paul Jesson) is likely in the early stages of dementia, but Amy and her mother Birdie (Marion Bailey) are singing songs to him to keep him engaged and their own spirits up. A social worker for over 15 years, Amy is constantly buoyant around her friends and family no matter what work events may have shattered her day. She is smiling as she sings, but if you look closely enough – and Leigh wants you to catch this – you’ll see that on the inside she’s on the verge of tears. It’s a startling moment for the Emmy-nominated actress who is having quite a year. And, at a minimum, “Tender” makes you realize how lucky we are to have her grace our screens.
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A world premiere at the 2026 Telluride Film Festival, Leigh’s latest drama intertwines the longtime friendship between Amy and Rosie (relative newcomer Alice Bailey Johnson), a social worker specializing in adult care, with the quiet routine of Birdie and Geoff’s later days. Amy has moved back in with Rosie after her now ex-boyfriend has trekked back to Glasgow to reunite with his ex-wife. At 39, the clock is ticking (at least that’s what her mother verbalizes), but both she and the perpetually single Rosie are two peas in a pod. They goof around in their apartment like teenagers, letting loose after days filled with mentally unstable senior citizens or disaffected kids in foster care. They swig on glasses of wine, seemingly unaffected by their now single status, or are doing an excellent job of hiding it.
Amy is very close to her parents (she’s seemingly an only child), and regularly stops by to have tea with them. It takes her multiple visits and Rosie’s support to admit her relationship didn’t work out, but Birdie is soon gossiping with an old friend that he wasn’t good enough for her anyway. Rosie, blunt about her non-existent relationship with her own parents, is seemingly infatuated with both Birdie and Geoff, happy to have the former refer to her as her second “daughter.” But, like Amy, when she’s off the clock, she’s bursting with joy like an Energizer bunny.
Initially, you may think Leigh’s focus is exploring these minor family dynamics and how these three women confront Geoff’s somewhat swift descent into failing health. But, as always, Leigh has more up his sleeve. There’s a slight allegory the longtime political filmmaker may also be hinting at. Early on, Birdie and Geoff reflect on how when they were young, the U.K. was on an upward trajectory. “Even the Tories” cared for people, they proclaim. Then Thatcher came, and it all went to hell. Amy and Rosie even remind them they were effectively “paid” to go to university with grants and a stipend, a benefit the poor no longer receive. Today, their daughter spends her days dealing with a superior focused on quotas and cuts instead of empowering her and her colleagues to help people to their full ability. And, at the beginning of the film, Rosie does her best to get an old man who does not appear healthy to leave the hospital because doctors insist he can be discharged (“You don’t want to stay here forever, do you?”). Moreover, much of Amy and Rosie’s time with Birdie and Geoff is spent reflecting on happier times. Singing songs of days gone by. A stark realization that these two women may never come close to the fifty-year-long relationship that Birdie and Geoff have enjoyed. They don’t talk about the future. Not for a minute. They are on their phones, surviving the day and dealing with a nation that seemingly can’t help anyone, even though these two blessed souls seem destined to. Is Leigh trying to make a statement? Ponder.
Beyond Flynn’s wondrous and markedly subtle turn, “Tender” is blessed with another charismatic performance from Leigh’s longtime collaborator and partner, Bailey, as well as a head-turning “who is she” moment for Johnson. And, at 83, you may wonder if Leigh is looking in the mirror at his own morality with Geoff, gracefully inhabited by Jesson. That may be an inevitable conjecture for moviegoers who appreciate the director’s long list of contributions to the cinema. But you will hear the phrase, “We’re going to be alright, aren’t we?” multiple times throughout the film. At times you may think Leigh included it for reassurance. That is until he ends the entire endeavor on a specific image. A pointed image. A stark one. And, at that point, you decidedly might not. [A-/B+]
“Tender Loving Care” opens in limited release on Dec. 4.
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Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
