“Don’t leave it too late to die” is the sage advice of a matron in an aged care facility in the ironically titled ALLELUJAH.

The title comes from the song Get Happy composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Ted Koehler.

Shout “hallelujah”, c’mon get happy, Get ready for the judgement day, Shout “hallelujah”, c’mon get happy, We’re going to the promised land.

It’s an appropriate song, cruel tongue in cynical cheek, for this narrative set in God’s waiting room, a film whose source material is a play by Alan Bennett, adapted by Heidi Thomas and directed by the eminent, Richard Eyre.

Tonally shifting like tectonic plates of unstable narrative, ALLELUJAH at times plays like a Carry On film, or a cosy Sunday night telemovie. According to Eyre, the meaning of the film is contained in the lives of the many characters portrayed, so it’s a kaleidoscope of meanings.

There’s the grumpy old man played by the go to grumpy old man of the moment, David Bradley. There’s the cultured academic played by Derek Jacobi. And there’s the mousy invisible that sets the cat among the pigeons played by Judi Dench.

But the tropes are put on the ropes and the end result is something more astute, profound and satisfying than originally thought.

Consensus and conflict run parallel in a subtle study of compassion in the aged care sector, an area where professionals are stretched as demand expands.

An excellent ensemble piece, ALLELUJAH is headlined by Jennifer Saunders as Sister Gillpin and Bally Gill as Dr. Valentine and the narrative peaks with the consequence of the actions of the two medical practitioners. The doctor is an idealist. The nursing sister is a realist, and that’s really the tension in the film between an ideal world in which the NHS is flawless and a perfect conception, and the reality of the NHS, which is that the government is constantly demanding greater efficiency, greater cost saving, greater cost-effectiveness. So, there’s the strain between idealism and pragmatism.

The most complex issue in the film is the issue of whether you should continue to keep somebody alive – somebody who’s in pain, somebody who feels their life has come to an end – because it’s your duty. Is it your duty to care for the person regardless of their circumstance?