Love and loss in the Lakes

Writer/director Harry Macqueen is explaining the thought processes behind his new film Supernova. Its centrepiece is a road trip to the Lake District taken by a middle-aged couple: novelist Tusker, played by Stanley Tucci, and Colin Firth’s concert pianist Sam. They are paying a visit to Sam’s childhood home, now the residence of his sister and her husband. But this isn’t a simple, happy homecoming.

Tusker is suffering from early-onset dementia and both are silently aware that this may be their last trip north that his condition will allow. As such, it’s an emotionally riveting, deeply affecting study of two people in love coming to terms with the encroachment