Keeping Rosy

Maxine Peake carries this modestly scaled British thriller about a high-flying executive confronted with the rash decisions she makes on a really, really bad day. Beaten to a promised partnership, Charlotte (Peake) returns fuming to her high-rise home and clashes with her cleaner. Events spiral out of control and in time reveal the dark significance of the film's seemingly jaunty title. Peake is outstanding as the uptight, controlling, unravelling Charlotte, while director Steve Reeves resourcefully cranks up the tension in and around her swish apartment block. As the gripping drama proceeds, Inbetweeners regular Blake Harrison also shines as a cheeky-chappy security guard with his own sinister agenda. But there's also an underlying hint of misogyny - in a story apparently punishing a single career-woman for not choosing motherhood and family - that takes a little of the sheen off Reeves's effective feature debut.