For 80 Days

Admittedly ambitious and admirable in focusing on two elderly women – one long happily married, one a lesbian living alone – whose friendship is revived, after decades apart, when they meet up again as visitors in a room shared by their respective relatives in a San Sebastian hospital, this well-meaning drama is flawed by its reliance on clichés of plotting and character. The comedy is a little too broad, the narrative occasionally contrived, even implausible, and its manipulative, even dismissive treatment of most supporting characters in its attempts to enlist sympathy for the central relationship smacks of unthinking cynicism. Still, it looks good, and the lead performances are not unappealing.