STARRING: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Michelle Fairley, Mare Winningham, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Peter Hermann, Anna Maxwell Martin
WRITTEN BY: Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
DIRECTED BY: Stephen Frears
I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve seen a Stephen Frears movie. His last few films flew completely under the radar. Did anyone even see Lay The Favorite? He’s back with Philomena, which is a good film, and definitely worth watching. Is it the years best film? No. Should it be nominated for Best Picture? Probably not, but I wouldn’t be offended.
Based on the true story of Philomena Lee (Judi Dench), the film mainly follows Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), a British journalist who recently was dragged through a scandal and is now unemployed. Luckily, other publications are willing to work with him, and he finds himself being pitched the story of Philomena, a woman who was hiding a secret for 50 years. That secret? The nuns stole her baby. Well, not really, but you’ll feel that way by the end of the movie.
When Philomena was a teenager, she had a sexual encounter with a boy, and it resulted in a pregnancy. Having nowhere to go, and no family, she relied on the nuns for her birth, and became their property for four years. She was only allowed to see her son for an hour a day, until the nuns sold him to an American family. Martin teams up with Philomena to find her son, a journey which leads to America, and has mixed results.
The thing is… Judi Dench is always good. Always. When you have such a level of greatness, it becomes hard to top yourself. I don’t think this is a career best performance for her, in fact I thought she had a showier role in Skyfall. I think Steve Coogan, however, is at his career best (dramatically at least). He’s a man largely known for his comedic roles, but Coogan really does strong work here. The Best Actor category is far too crowded for him to compete there, but he should definitely be considered for supporting actor. He has the challenging task of playing an unlikable person, and turning him into a likeable character. Coogan actually manages to do this.
For me, I felt like the film didn’t pull enough punches. I felt like the film itself was a direct representation of Philomena the character. The film was naive at times, leaving the audience thinking something big was around the corner when it wasn’t. After Philomena meets a character in the film, who was another child from the same nun compound, they realize that the character didn’t ask Philomena any questions about her own mother. This revelation, which could have turned into something else, is completely lost.
I did enjoy the film, but it was a good film, not a great one. Every film aspires to greatness, just not all of them end up achieving it.
FINAL GRADE: B
