Gideon's Daughter

2005, 105 minutes

A drama about the relationship beween a father and daughter

In 1997, the British public unite to express unprecedented levels of collective grief following Diana's death. But at the same time PR guru Gideon (Bill Nighy) turns inwards as he struggles with his private sense of loss and emptiness. Gideon stops and re-evaluates his world when his daughter Natasha (Emily Blunt) threatens to leave his life as revenge for his serial infidelities. Increasingly, he finds the hollowness of high profile public life is exposed by his relationships with both his daughter and Stella (Miranda Richardson), a woman grieving the loss of her young son in a cycling accident. Stella (Miranda Richardson) Gideon's driven to the edge of a nervous breakdown by Natasha's emotional detachment from him. She's still resentful that he has been a serial adulterer, and that he was out of the room calling his mistress as her mother lay dying of cancer in hospital. However, Gideon hides his pain and to the outside world nothing seems wrong with him. In fact, quite the contrary: New Labour politicians and influential media players are queuing up to court him. Even though he is thoroughly disillusioned with the manipulative world of spin and focus group, Gideon's viewed as nothing short of a PR genius. He can only really express his agony to Stella, a fellow soul in torment. Gideon does not meet Stella in auspicious circumstances. They bump in to one another when Stella's ex-husband tries to accost one of Gideon's clients, a New Labour minister, about the Government's lack of response to their son's death. But after this unhappy start, Gideon and Stella soon find a real bond, brought together by a shared sense of grief and loss. "Gideon's Daughter is trying to open a door onto the world and make people see the very recent past in a different light," reveals writer and director Stephen Poliakoff. "By telling a very visceral, personal love story, it aims to throw light on how we as intelligent adults feel about the world. In the summer of 1997, the seeds were sown for today's worship of celebrities and the way in which the Government manages surfaces."

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Companies involved in this production

• BBC