Allelujah

2022
1h 39m

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

1.8K

YOUR RATING

Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, David Bradley, Jennifer Saunders, Russell Tovey, Jesse Akele, and Bally Gill in Allelujah (2022)

The story of a geriatric ward in a small Yorkshire hospital threatened with closure.

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Drama

The story of a geriatric ward in a small Yorkshire hospital threatened with closure.The story of a geriatric ward in a small Yorkshire hospital threatened with closure.The story of a geriatric ward in a small Yorkshire hospital threatened with closure.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

1.8K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
The point about the Earnshaws needing their mother to hang on for another three months relates to UK Inheritance Tax. No tax is payable on any gift given more than seven years before the giver dies. If however, the giver dies within seven years, tax can be applied retrospectively. There is a sliding scale, known as taper relief, so that if the giver dies six years after the gift (as here), the tax rate is 8% (from a maximum of 40%).

In the case of large transfers (eg a property), even after various allowances are taken into account, 8% can amount to a significant sum.

Goofs
After a death, a pulse is checked using a thumb. You should never take a pulse using your thumb as it has its own pulse.

Quotes
Sister Gilpin: I mean, all these managers, all they think about is movement isn't it? Like the hospital system is just some giant bowel that has to keep pumping out shit.

Connections
Featured in The Graham Norton Show: Dame Judi Dench/Hugh Jackman/Michael B. Jordan/Eugene Levy/Paul Rudd/Michael Douglas/Pink (2023)

Soundtracks
For the Good Times
Written by Kris Kristofferson
Performed by Perry Como

User reviews55

Review

Featured review

9/10

Touching, Affecting and Twisty

There are some plot twists you can see coming a mile off. There are many films where you know a twist is coming, even if you don't know what it'll be. Allelujah is a film where you don't realise there's going to be a twist t all, never mind one so vicious.

Set in a small, crumbling hospital earmarked for closure, and which mostly deals with geriatric patients, Allelujah starts out as a classic Little Guy vs Government Machine story. There's much that is poignant, and much that is comic and there are fine performances throughout, particularly from Jennifer Saunders, David Bradley and Derek Jacobi.

Then, just when the bureaucrat seems set for a big change of heart and the audience senses the feel-good ending, the rug's pulled out from under them completely. It's both devastating and unforgettable.

Dr Valentine's final piece to camera is magnificent, as he says the things that *need* to be said.