It’s hard to know what to say about this worthy, well acted, very downbeat drama, directed by Luxembourger Désirée Nosbusch.

It’s a two hander, with only Tim Roth as Lucas and Trine Dyrholm (who was so great in The Girl With a Needle) as Edith, playing ex-partners who come together 10 years after the death of their young son. It’s based on a play and you can tell (by Dutch playwright Lot Vekemans). Although the bleak and atmospheric setting – the cemetery of a church next to a weir in the rain – adds mood to the story, it is mainly the two characters in a dancing, spiralling dialogue.

Movies about grief are a hard sell and I am not sure that many will make the effort to see this one other than for the acting chops of the two leads. It was likened to a Mike Leigh film in the synopsis, which I think is a bit of a cheat as it doesn’t have his depth of character nor scope of social and cultural detail. ‘Like Mike Leigh’ seems to be short hand for films that are about character and dialogue rather than narrative drive. The acting is pretty brilliant, and there isn’t a moment when you don’t believe that these two people were once married and have tried in different ways to try and live meaningful lives.

Edith is relentlessly bitter, something that becomes quite hard to sit with, and we have sympathy for Lucas who has chosen to find joy and contentment in life again. Edith is so submerged in self pity that you can see she has lost sight of her own contribution to how her life is now.

There is some sweetness, some small crumbs of hope, but I’m not sure I felt much of anything or gained any great insight into the human condition.