Steve Reeves film, whose screenplay was written with Mike Oughton, tells the story of the what Charles Dickens might have described as "the worst of times and the best of times".
Charlotte (Maxine Peake) - a driven, ambitious and astute lawyer - stumbles over the fact that her male employers have betrayed her and passed her over for a promised promotion in favour of another lawyer, whom by virtue of gender alone has been unfairly selected for promotion in unjustified precedence over her.
Reeling from this straightforward and underhand duplicity, she struggles with feelings of furious anger as she travels home and tries to take in what has happened to her. Her career has been truncated unexpectedly; but she is a trained lawyer and tries to unscramble her feelings and rationalise them as she jouneys home to her 10th floor appartment.
Her hapless, impoverished, immigrant cleaner Maya (Elisa Lasowski) is smoking while hoovering the flat. It is Maya's birthday and in her bag she carries both a gift of of sparkling white wine and a card of good wishes from her partner or husband.
Misdirecting her fury at her unfair dismissal towards Maya; Charlotte replicates her own constructive dismissal by summarily dismissing Maya, who is no less angry at the outcome than Charlotte has been earlier.
Mistakenly, and no less unfairly, Charlotte falls into the misbelief that Maya has stolen the bottle of sparkling wine from her own fridge, where Cahrlotte has placed several bottles. They fight. Charlotte seizes the bottle and strikes Maya on the head - who dies shortly afterwards from a concussive cerebral haemhorrage. Only when her inert body is laying on the floor does Charlotte discover the birthday card which accompanied the bottle she has used to murder Maya.
Events continue to deteriorate as Charlotte foolishly tries to cover her tracks. Maya's infant child, Rosy, is still in the car where her dead mother has left her. As the action plays out, Charlotte developes a deep bond of affection with the child and involves her sister in covering up the awful crime.
More subterfuge, blackmail and a further suicide and murder ensues; but the audience is left with a sense of genuine remorse as Charlotte eventually acts in the best interests of Rosy bequeathing her to the care of her sister.
But the more responsible among us wonders; where's Dad, then, who bought the card and the bottle of bubbly for his wife's birthday ? Where's he in all this ?
Charlotte (Maxine Peake) - a driven, ambitious and astute lawyer - stumbles over the fact that her male employers have betrayed her and passed her over for a promised promotion in favour of another lawyer, whom by virtue of gender alone has been unfairly selected for promotion in unjustified precedence over her.
Reeling from this straightforward and underhand duplicity, she struggles with feelings of furious anger as she travels home and tries to take in what has happened to her. Her career has been truncated unexpectedly; but she is a trained lawyer and tries to unscramble her feelings and rationalise them as she jouneys home to her 10th floor appartment.
Her hapless, impoverished, immigrant cleaner Maya (Elisa Lasowski) is smoking while hoovering the flat. It is Maya's birthday and in her bag she carries both a gift of of sparkling white wine and a card of good wishes from her partner or husband.
Misdirecting her fury at her unfair dismissal towards Maya; Charlotte replicates her own constructive dismissal by summarily dismissing Maya, who is no less angry at the outcome than Charlotte has been earlier.
Mistakenly, and no less unfairly, Charlotte falls into the misbelief that Maya has stolen the bottle of sparkling wine from her own fridge, where Cahrlotte has placed several bottles. They fight. Charlotte seizes the bottle and strikes Maya on the head - who dies shortly afterwards from a concussive cerebral haemhorrage. Only when her inert body is laying on the floor does Charlotte discover the birthday card which accompanied the bottle she has used to murder Maya.
Events continue to deteriorate as Charlotte foolishly tries to cover her tracks. Maya's infant child, Rosy, is still in the car where her dead mother has left her. As the action plays out, Charlotte developes a deep bond of affection with the child and involves her sister in covering up the awful crime.
More subterfuge, blackmail and a further suicide and murder ensues; but the audience is left with a sense of genuine remorse as Charlotte eventually acts in the best interests of Rosy bequeathing her to the care of her sister.
But the more responsible among us wonders; where's Dad, then, who bought the card and the bottle of bubbly for his wife's birthday ? Where's he in all this ?