A chance remark sparks a strange ambition in Frank. He decides he will swim the English Channel. Frank starts training in earnest helped and hindered in equal measures by his friends from the shipyard and the owner of the local takeaway shop. He doesn't tell his wife or son what he is doing and his private preoccupation leads to isolation from his wife and further estrangement from his son.

In flashback we learn that Frank and Joan had another son who drowned in the sea before Frank could save him. Frank carries this guilt like a millstone around his neck. The swim therefore assumes even greater significance for Frank.

Peter Mullan gives yet another great performance as Frank. His craggy face can register anger, sadness or delight better than any words ever could. There is a subtlety to his acting that belies the physicality he brings to the screen. As Frank his panic at losing his job, his guilt over his lost son and his attempts to mend bridges with his surviving son are beautifully wrought. He brings a real touch of class to any film he appears in and this is no exception.

Brenda Blethyn makes a brave attempt at a Glasgow accent but it comes off as more Irish than Scottish. Like Mullan, she has an easy naturalness on the screen but her role here doesn't show off her undoubted talents. The story line about her training to become a bus driver seems to have been tacked on to give her character more prominence and more to do. It doesn't quite work although Blethyn does well with the material she has been given.

The supporting cast are good, from Billy Boyd's enthusiastic but less than clever friend to Ron Cook as a prissy, lonely man who makes rather wonderful cakes for after the training sessions. ‘On A Clear Day’ is a gentle comedy with a tinge of sadness that doesn't tax the brain too much. It is in danger of slipping into sugary sentimentality but director Dellal manages to avoid this in the main. An undemanding but entertaining film worth seeing for another vintage Mullan performance.

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Shirley Whiteside is a Glasgow-based freelance writer who has contributed to The Herald, Herald Magazine, The List and the Scottish Daily Mail. She has also worked as a film/tv publicist on a variety of projects including Orphans, Mrs Brown, The Crow Road, Cardiac Arrest, Takin' Over The Asylum, Small Faces, Ex-S and Bookmark. She is currently working on short screenplays and short stories.

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© 2005 Laura Hird All rights reserved.