Frank & Percy is a contemporary tale of companionship that will appeal to different generations. National institution Sir Ian McKellen stars opposite the underrated Roger Allam in this tender tale of love revealed, that is equal parts whimsy and worldly wise. In many respects, Frank & Percy feels like an excuse to enlist every British actor from the last 30 years, and recapture that sense of a thriving film industry.
With the likes of Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, Rob Brydon, and Peter Davidson making an appearance, this is a project that clearly brings friends together. Writer-director Sean Mathias has a long working relationship with Sir Ian McKellen having helmed both Hamlet in 2024 and the NFT: No Man’s Land alongside Robin Lough. A fact that brings weight to this project purely through his presence, and it is his performance alongside a more reserved Roger Allam that represents the beating heart of this film.
Under normal circumstances this coming out tale of one man late in life would barely cause a ripple. That it advocates honesty in attraction and celebrates that fluidity without preaching from the pulpit undercuts the rose-tinted tone it projects. In society discussions around gender identity and sexual attraction will always be part of the conversation, even if those conversations sometimes still feel tempered.
Image Courtesy of LFF
What Frank and Percy does is embrace this topic with care, consideration, and no small degree of delicacy. The relationship between these two men reflects on different lives lived from diverse perspectives, neither one blinkered to the difficulties that come with loving anyone. The drama comes through those growing pains that happen within any relationship, where intimacies are established and boundaries defined.
In different hands such moments might have felt hackneyed or hollow, but what McKellen and Allam manage to do is explore the innocence behind their attraction. The contributions from that all-star ensemble cast might feel slight in comparison, but standouts include Stephen Fry as an ex-boyfriend and Joanna Lumley as a relative with early onset dementia.
Subtle hat tips to the issues of aging might come across as comedic in a culture that has migrated entirely on-line, but Frank and Percy carries more weight on that move than audiences might think. Comedy is drawn from the evolution of dating apps for every orientation, while a clash of old-fashioned values alongside this new openness allows for moments of pathos.
With all that to recommend it, Frank and Percy still feels slight despite its inherent charm and star power. Whether that comes down to the rose-tinted view of old age pensioners blessedly unaffected by heating hikes or financial crisis, audiences might walk away feeling oddly unsatisfied. Even so, Frank and Percy still has much to recommend it, beyond the fact that it would make a perfect companion to The Christophers recently directed by Stephen Soderbergh.
Frank and Percy is in selected UK cinemas now.