Snow Cake (2006)

a.k.a. 

Disabilities:  Autism

Comments:   Odd story about an Englishman (Rickman) who gives a young girl a lift as he is driving to Winnipeg to see a woman who was the mother of his son (now dead). They are hit by a truck and she is killed while he walks away "with barely a scratch". He visits her mother (Sigourney Weaver) who is autistic. She asks him to stay and he agrees to until the funeral. The mother lives alone but does need help and this previously came from her daughter.
A neighbour of the mother is attracted to him and they have an 'affair'. We learn he had a son he had never seen who also died in a road accident. And he has just come out of prison after serving a sentence for murdering the driver of the car which killed his son. Initially he has a similiar antipathy to the driver who crashed into him but there is by the end reconcilation.
Vivienne the girl who died lived for sixteen years with her maternal grandparents. Her father is unknown and her mother's pregnancy may be the result of a rape. At sixteen Vivienne went to visit her mother and stayed with her as her carer.
There are long scenes with the mother which are somewhat slow and didactic but her autism is well characterised. The affair with the neighbour is more conventional and interesting but all the scenes with whomever have a depth and reflectiveness. This is a thoughtful film.
There is no easy resolution at the end. Rickman's character leaves when we thought he might stay. The neighbour who was kept at arm's length by the mother is accepted and we are left believing she will become the new carer. Even though she has twice said she is a very selfish person. Though this may only be in respect of the serial lovers she takes on.
Definitely to be recommended.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448124/