By DANNY BUTTLER
Philomena (M)
Starring: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan
Director: Steven Frears
IF YOU want a good time, check out this beaut little film about child abuse, forced adoption and religious mania.
Judi Dench and Steve Coogan star as an odd couple thrown together through their own sadness and desperation.
Dench’s Philomena is a 60-something Irishwoman looking for a son taken away from her as a toddler by Catholic nuns.
The harrowing scenes from the 1950s Irish convent are hard to watch at times, with children removed from their teenage mothers, who are kept in Dickensian workhouse conditions by their cruel mistresses.
Philomena’s own child is snatched away in gut-wrenching circumstances, leaving her a broken woman for the next 50 years.
Enter Steve Coogan’s Martin Sixsmith, a smug journalist down on his luck and out of work, who is forced to write Philomena’s ‘human interest’ story to keep a few dollars rolling in.
The rest is a sort of road trip of people from very different worlds who learn life lessons from each other.
Sound like a recipe for mawkishness? Well, it is anything but.
Neither the story nor characters ever lapse into predictability and always lace proceedings with unexpectedly rich humour.
The only thing that is unsurprising about this film is the excellent performance of Judi Dench.
Steve Coogan, a man who has never quiet found his niche in the film world, is a revelation as the cynical reporter who becomes Philomena’s unlikely ally and friend.
Chemistry, sharp dialogue and a great story make this one film to catch before it disappears from cinemas.
– Danny Buttler
