Film review: Folie à Deux (NC)

If Werner Herzog was to make a documentary about genteel British folk, Folie à Deux is probably close to how it would turn out.

Kim Hopkins' documentary follows Helen Heraty, a well-spoken mother of seven who, with her new partner, John Edwards, takes on a mountain of debt in order to turn a stately pile in York into a luxury hotel.

After the 2008 financial crisis, the banks pull the carpet from under her. She is in dispute with the National Trust and is feuding with neighbours.

She is as driven as Klaus Kinski in Herzog's films about mad dreamers but as haughty as Penelope Keith in To the Manor Born.