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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Philomena (2013): Great Performances, Touching, Thoughtful Story

Philomena is based on a true story first told in Martin Sixsmith’s 2010 book, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, which would have been a good title for the movie as well, but isn’t. As the book title suggests, part of the story is about how the title character lost her child. In the early 1950’s, following an out of wedlock pregnancy, Philomena was taken in by Rosecrea convent to have her baby, and three years later the child was given up for adoption against her will. Rosecrea was one of the now infamous Magdalene laundries: Irish dormitories – prisons, really - operated by the Catholic church for “fallen women”, generally young girls like Philomena Lee, who had gotten themselves “in trouble”.  The girls were required to do menial labor – such as work in a commercial laundry – in horrid conditions, while their babies were largely raised by the nuns, and as this film describes, often sold to/adopted by American families.
 
If all this sounds rather familiar, you may have seen an earlier, critically acclaimed  film about such a place a few years ago, called The Magdalene Sisters (2002).

Anyway, Philomena’s anguishing experience as a young girl forms the backdrop for the current picture, most of which takes place in the recent past. Fifty years after her three-year-old son was taken from her, Philomena (Judy Dench) meets Martin Sixsmith, recently sacked from his job as a BBC news presenter, now an aspiring journalist. Martin (Steve Coogan) becomes interested in her story, and proposes that he might be able to help her track down her lost son.  What follows is part detective story, part buddy film, and part expose. More than anything though, Philomena is the story of the developing relationship between Martin and Philomema, and the story of a mother’s love tested by time and circumstance. By and large, the tale is told in an understated and realistic way, which makes it all the more touching, and powerful.

As Philomema, Judy Dench is marvelous (as usual). She portrays a woman of faith, despite what’s happened to her; who vividly recalls the tragedy and traumas of her youth, yet is neither melancholy nor bitter; and while unsophisticated, she is  nobody’s fool. She manages to create a character, in Philomena, who is both  unworldly and wise. Above all, she’s a realist when it counts the most.

But the surprise of this picture is Coogan as Sixsmith. Known as a droll, comic performer (“Alan Partridge” in multiple British TV series; In the Loop (2009); The Trip (2011)), Coogan plays it pretty straight here. Sixsmith, the journalist, is a stand-in for us, really, and it is through his eyes that we learn about and get to know Philomena. In many ways, he is her opposite: well educated, sophisticated, worldly, cynical, faithless and self-centered.  At first, Philomena is just a story to him, an opportunity. He asks the questions we might ask, he reacts as we might – initially judgmental, bemused and amused; but as he gets to know her, he becomes increasingly empathetic, caught up in her quest, and ultimately, like us, outraged and indignant.  It is a careful, nuanced, very human performance.  Coogan also co-wrote the screenplay for this movie, for which he has already been nominated for a Golden Globe.

 
Kudos should also go to Sophie Kennedy Clark, who convincingly plays the young Philomena; and also to director Stephen Frears (The Snapper (1993), High Fidelity (2000)), who evokes such nice performances, and guides the telling of this tale smoothly.

Philomena is a small picture, with a lot of heart.  It carefully balances drama and grief with a warmth and humanity that is heartening. I was left with a mix of feelings and impressions as the lights came up, food for thought and conversation.  Certainly what happened to Philomena and others like her was terribly wrong; and yet in many cases, the forced adoptions may well have benefitted the children,  by giving them a chance to thrive and make a life for themselves that otherwise most likely would be unavailable to them.  I suspect that the motivation of the Church was to do something like that, alongside a belief that licentious behavior (as they saw it) needed to be met with severely punitive measures.

Check it out and decide for yourself. This motion picture deserves to be on your list.


In current release.

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