Harry Potter star delivers best performance of her career in heartbreaking drama

Fiona Shaw is at her absolute best in crushing new drama Park Avenue.

Shaw, 67, is an icon of the screen and has a chameleon-like repertoire of appearances across every genre of TV and film.

From playing a headteacher with a penchant for a double entendre in Three Men and A Little Lady, to her turn as a humour-resistant, dry-forearmed therapist in Fleabag, the star has smoothly morphed into any and every character throughout her career.

Now, the Irish actress may have delivered her most impressive work yet in Gaby Dellal’s drama Park Avenue, which she stars in alongside Katherine Waterston and Chaske Spencer.

The star is given room to unfurl her abilities as she shapeshifts into Kit DeMille, a writer in New York who is approaching a career highlight while grappling with mortality and a layered, complex relationship with her only daughter, Charlotte.

The film is neither a comedy nor a heartbreaking drama; instead, it is a truer reflection of real life—a composition of genres that shows the best and worst emotions life has to offer.

The performances are outstanding, with the central relationship between Kit and Charlotte showcasing the lead actors’ talent.

For Shaw, this could be a career highlight as her character pivots again and again from lucid to confused, kind to cruel, and from powerful to frail.

As Kit, she is completely transformed, and this nuanced character is certain to steal your heart—after first crushing it with her designer shoes.

The beginning is slow-paced, which perhaps helps to flesh out the characters and setting, but that could have been achieved with a little trimming of the fat.

Set in New York—as is evident from its title and the stunning real filming locations—the film predominantly takes place in a luxury apartment building on Park Avenue, inhabited by a selection of wealthy characters, most of whom are in their golden years.

Kit (Shaw) is a wealthy occupant of one such luxurious but dated apartment whose life is disrupted when her estranged daughter ditches her life as a rancher in Colorado, leaving behind a controlling husband, and starting afresh in New York.

As is the state of their relationship, rather than tell her mother she has left her husband, she says she is visiting so she can attend her mother’s book launch. Rather than tell her daughter that she is seriously unwell, Kit confides only in her doorman, Anders (Spencer), and attempts to maintain appearances with her fellow neighbours and every other character in her life.

The story follows the fraught relationship between these two characters as they continuously lie to one another and exchange barbs. It explores a mother-daughter relationship that only mothers and daughters can understand—one filled with unconditional love and closeness, twinned with cruelty and cutting comments.

Over one hour and 45 minutes, Charlotte falls back into familiar patterns by returning to a childhood romance, and Kit’s defences slowly begin to unravel as her illness forces her hand.

As the story unravels, so do the secrets, particularly those wrapped up in Charlotte’s father’s sudden death, which took place in her childhood and has haunted the apartment and their lives for decades.

Despite incredible performances, the dialogue falls flat in parts, and even the confident deliveries don’t sell every line.

The slow build isn’t leavened enough with comedy to keep the film moving, and it feels, dare I say, boring at the beginning.

In stark contrast, some sad scenes aren’t given enough time to reach their full potential. Heart-wrenching moments will most certainly draw you in, but the storytelling doesn’t linger long enough to pack that emotional wallop that would have made it a real tear-jerker.

The film is, sadly, not greater than the sum of its parts. But it still manages to be an absolute triumph for Shaw and Waterston.

 Park Avenue is released in UK and Irish cinemas on November 14, 2025

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