Jean Simmons, who wouldn’t mind being called a star from the past, is the central character in David Rocksavage’s gentle family drama.

It’s good to see her again as Hannah, a shaky old widow who lives in a remote house on the Norfolk coast and is looked after by Joe (Jamie Dornan), a handsome young man who brings her cannabis to ease the pain of a long illness. 

The period is the Sixties but little seems to have changed for some 50 years until her son, Robert (James Wilby), and his two kids (Ophelia Lovibond and Toby Marlowe) arrive to complicate matters.

This film is so far from the rough and tumble of most present offerings that one fears for it at the box-office, but it is warmly shot by Milton Kamm and, as family tensions mount, it creates an almost Chekhovian atmosphere, albeit in a very English kind of way.

Robert is upset by his mother’s strange companion, who seems to have taken over her life — yet his daughter fancies the young man and his son excitedly explores the countryside with him. Joe himself remains an enigma but hardly a dangerous one.

Meanwhile, Hannah reads her poetry, tends her garden and tries to keep the peace with her jealous son. His idea that she should be taken off to London to be cared for properly leaves her distinctly cold. 

Shadows in the Sun unfurls as quietly as a mouse and could be accused of lacking urgency and bite. But it is well played, particularly by Simmons, who still has the charisma of a star turn, and Wilby, and manages to hold the attention throughout. No one could deny that its heart is in the right place.