Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut with this charming, funny and insightful film in which four ageing opera singers are reunited in a specialist retirement home. Long-term residents Reggie (Tom Courtenay), Wilfred (Billy Connolly) and the ever-forgetful Cecily (Pauline Collins) are regular participants in an annual concert that celebrates Verdi's birthday (Michael Gambon, in top form, plays the insufferable concert director). When Reggie's old beau Jean (Maggie Smith) arrives on the scene, the group is threatened by unresolved historical tensions and Jean's unforgiving diva-like disposition.