Plots(1)
Helen and John have seven children and a very comfortable lifestyle when they decide to get a mortgage to buy what might well be the oldest house in England. They want to convert the 72-room mansion in the center of York into a hotel, but when the financial crisis hits, their dream turns into their worst nightmare. For five years, the less-than-loveable Helen fights the banks for a loan and her neighbors over rights to the courtyard. She's on her own, as John spends most of the time working in another part of the country. While her house gradually becomes unsellable, she keeps busy carting off the neighbors' garbage cans and trying in vain to get a "No Parking" sign put up. This film is an intimate portrayal of a large, Bohemian family with all the ups and downs of daily life, an intriguing glance into England’s history, and a nail-biting journey through the economic crash and the biggest gamble in life, showing the human cost of the mortgage crisis. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)
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