With the possible exception of The Eighth Day, this entry in the 90s Oscar-mongering heartwarming disability sweepstakes has got to be the most repulsive yet. Kenneth Branagh plays a would-be inventor in trouble with the law whose community service is caring for a woman with Lou Gehrig’s disease (you guessed itHelena Bonham Carter). She asks him to help her lose her virginity. The commercial release of an atrocity like this cynical-sentimental caper from England while infinitely better features from abroad get passed over is the kind of thing that unjustifiably gives international cinema a bad name. Richard Hawkins wrote the script and Paul Greengrass directed it; with Gemma Jones and Holly Aird. (JR)