Review: Philomena


Cynical political spin doctor and ex-BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) is looking for his latest project when he is presented with the story of Philomena (Dame Judi Dench), an elderly Irish woman who back in the 1950s found herself an unmarried, and naïve, and pregnant teenager, sent to a convent for ‘wayward girls’. Her child was taken away from her when he was a toddler and sold overseas for adoption. The still devoutly Catholic Philomena has never quite recovered, and although he’s not a human interest story kinda guy (not to mention an atheist), Sixsmith feels he’s got something here and agrees to help in the search, hoping to be able to tell the story.

 

I wish I could praise this 2013 Stephen Frears (“The Grifters”, “The Queen”) drama, which features excellent performances by Dame Judi Dench and a well-cast Steve Coogan, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jeff Pope (from the book by the real Martin Sixsmith). Unfortunately, this film’s real-life origins aren’t enough to warrant such familiar and clichéd material being brought to the big screen. You’ve seen it all before, proving that not every true story deserves its own movie, no matter how brilliantly acted it is, and no matter how significant that person was/is to the people who know them. This feels like it should be a TV movie for BBC, not a theatrically released film. But then perhaps Dench’s excellent performance wouldn’t be as widely seen and appreciated. She’s particularly effective in scenes where she’s not even saying anything. What an incredible actress.

 

Stolen babies? Holy cover-up? Records mysteriously burning in a fire? Just because it really happened doesn’t mean we haven’t already seen it a billion times before (“The Magdalene Sisters”, “Oranges and Sunshine” etc.) Some of the details are interesting, especially when the film heads over to America (there’s no way this film would’ve gotten made in America. No way whatsoever!), but it’s not quite enough for a recommendation.

 

I just didn’t get into this as much as I wanted and expected to. The sincerity of Dench’s performance and the spot-on casting of Coogan (who I swear looks like a circa 1970s Christopher Lee) give it a lift but can only take it so far. I was a bit disappointed in this one.

 

Rating: C+

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