My Week with Maisy

There are moments in which we realise that life is all about perspective. My Week with Maisy is just that, both within the world of the short film and in real life. A Show Me Shorts Film Festival submission starring the inimitable Dame Joanna Lumley as uptight retiree Emily Foster, this short albeit sweet story takes place in a chemotherapy treatment room. Anxious, brimming with feelings of self-pity, and with a glass-half-empty mentality, Mrs Foster can think of nothing worse than to share her time slot with Maisy (Ellie-Mae Siame), a whirlwind inquisitive child aspiring to be a lesbian. As their treatments progress, the pair form an unlikely bond that offers healing and unexpected, newfound hope.

Set entirely in an incongruously chirpy fuchsia and blush space, the design team deserves huge props. Production designer Anna Papa and set dresser Lydia Perez breathe freshness and vitality into a weighty world. Rather than compounding feelings of hopelessness and fear, the candy-pop décor is a physical representation of looking on the bright side of life. In perfect harmony, Hannah Teare’s costumes capture the two characters’ essences – Mrs Foster in a dowdy, prim suit and Maisy in outlandish onesies, a neon green wig making more than one surprise appearance. It would be remiss of me not to mention the immense talent of cinematographer Emma Dalesman, her saccharine landscape gleaming bright from the screen.

Under award-winning director Mika Simmons’ deft guidance, Lumley and Siame shine. They bring writer Mark Oxtoby’s exquisitely complex characters to life tenderly, wholly, and with the utmost deliberateness. The tightly coiled Mrs Foster gently begins to unwind as Maisy, wise beyond her years, wiggles between the cracked façade with her unapologetic candidness. “My dad says it’s always best to say what you mean,” Maisy declares in their first conversation. Taken aback at first, by the end, Mrs Foster has been won over by Maisy’s charm, eagerly awaiting each visit and entreating her to never change.

A short film supported by the Create Health Foundation that says so much in so little time, My Week with Maisy will fill your cup.