Philomena

Philomena is a remarkable heartwarming, touching, and hilarious drama about the true life events of Philomena Lee and her attempts to find her son who went for adoption fifty years prior.  The movie stars Judi Dench as Philomena, an Irish Catholic who got pregnant with her son when she was a young teen and lived in a convent during and after the pregnancy in return for her labour and the adoption rights of her child.  As she grows older, she comes clean with her daughter about the secrets of her past and her daughter then enlists the help of Martin Sixsmith, played by British comedian Steve Coogan.   Sixsmith is in a career transition after a very public debacle and seeks to write about the human interest story of Philomena.

It would be very easy to assume that the comedy from the duo would be brought by Coogan who has amazing comedic delivery, but it is actually quite the opposite.  Coogan does have some funny moments, but for the most part he is the straight man of this duo with Dench bringing some of the most brilliant naïve and sincere humour to the screen of the year.  Dench’s performance is remarkable, as she plays a woman who has so much hurt buried in her heart but still exudes the presence of a comforting mother figure.  Coogan shows some serious acting chops in this film as he is able to keep pace with Dench and assist in capturing the essential emotions of the film.

Part of the message of the movie is condemnation of the actions of the Catholic church in this situation, their treatment and handling of the adoption, as well as not assisting Philomena in her quest to find her child.  Sixsmith is the voice of that condemnation in this film as he does not hold back his feelings of the church’s actions, or the church in general.  While that is one side of the message, and one that some people are having a hard time looking past, the other side of the message is of love and forgiveness.  If Coogan’s character is about the condemnation of the structure of the church, Dench’s character is about the redemptive actions of the believers of the church.  In the same gesture that is the middle finger to the Catholic church (as a good friend of mine put it), it is also a reminder of the true meaning and actions of its message.

Religious politics aside, it is a marvel of a film that grabs the viewer by the hand and takes them on a journey through the entire spectrum of emotions.  The script is based off of the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith and was adapted into a screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope.  Coogan really shows multiple dimensions to his career with this movie, as he is also one of the film’s producers.  Directing the movie in an elegant and flowing way is twice Oscar nominated director Stephen Frears, who keeps the movie moving at a great pace and keeping it intriguing regardless of whatever venue the duo find themselves in, from travelling in cars to sitting in a hotel room.

There have been numerous dramatic movies that have comedic elements in them, but Philomena is one of the best there is.  The humour does not come from jokes, but rather the personality of Philomena, who we do not necessarily laugh at, and cannot help but find ourselves endeared by her honest personality.  She leads us to laughter, and brings us to tears as she shows bravery and tenacity to undo a fifty year old mistake.  This movie is very hard to not recommend to viewers of all types, and I am so glad that Harvey Weinstein was able to fight to keep the ratings board from dishing out an R rating based on two uses of the F-word in the film.  It would have been a shave to deny people access to this genuine tale.

Rating – 3.5 out of 4 stars