The Whisperers

This British film from 1967 focuses on an old woman (Edith Evans) living alone. She thinks she hears voices and also imagines she is due for an inheritance and has other fantasies about her life that the local police humor her on.

Her petty criminal son comes to visit but really comes to hide some money from a criminal venture. When she finds the money, she believes it is the inheritance and is later taken advantage of when she talks too much of coming into some money. A kindly social worker locates her husband, who had abandoned her long ago, and convinces him to return but this is short lived.


Although the plot sounds like some kind of thriller, I found it much more to be a story about growing old and living and fending alone. Despite the woman's interactions you can see she would much prefer to live her life her own way. There are many little human actions that show how she has learned to eke out an existence, like attending soup kitchens or warming her feet on the library radiator.

The beginning shot showing the type of neighborhood she lives in is almost like something after a nuclear war, empty and abandoned with no people showing. The story pretty much comes full circle. The lead Edith Evans was nominated for best actress at the Oscars, and won the BAFTA and other awards for this role.