Film makers are really working hard at accessing the growing market of those of us entitled to senior tickets for the cinema.

Song for Marion follows other recent successes such as Quartet and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in recognising both the challenges and the possibilities of ageing in the early 21st Century. The basic model is similar to that which is used in recent television programmes featuring Gareth Malone as he takes community, school and work groups and transforms them into competition standard choirs.

In this instance a young, secondary school music teacher, played by Gemma Arterton, works in a community centre with a group of senior citizens and forms them into a choir called the OAPZ. The focus of the plot is on a couple, Marion and Arthur, played by Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp. Marion is dying of cancer and Arthur is the very model of a grumpy old man. He resents Marion's involvement in the choir since it both takes her away from him and, he feels, puts additional pressure on her health.

The film follows the ways in which the choir provides fulfillment in both of their lives and in Arthur's relationship with their son played by Christopher Ecclestone. This is a lovely movie but be sure to take a hankie.