After a violent bout of crippling stomach pains (which are hastily attributed to a couple of expired sausages), Tom is frantically rushed to A&E where doctors belatedly diagnosis him with sepsis, an organ failure blood poisoning which kills 44,000 people each year. The crushing adversity faced by wife Nicola is nothing short of devastating, with Froggatt’s gut wrenching performance subtly inflected with unsteady trembling hands as she clings to a discreet dignity in attempt to regain control of the little composure she has left. A stoic Nicola signs the life altering operation permissions, granting Tom the radical surgery he needs which consists of a four limb and lower face amputation. Riley’s and Froggatt’s poignant central performances are encompassed in an affecting circle of love, guilt and frustration, that climaxes in a blazing outpour of honest and raw soul bearing. The family’s home life is thrown into a spiral of creeping chaos; bills slowly pile up and in-law relations are on the cusp of turmoil. In amongst the Rays’ continual struggle is the added blow of no financial safety net, ‘Mr Normal’ gets no kind of insurance claim, so the need for charitable fundraising is vital in order to obtain state of the art prosthetic limbs. Sepia coloured flashbacks to Tom’s turbulent childhood are a redundantly extraneous addition which almost tips the film into unbearably melancholy, with Clark ensuring Starfish to be an all-round bitter pill to swallow. A dynamic British indie that highlights essential human drama in amongst an inconspicuous disease, Starfish packs a potent punch about life’s fragility.