dvd of the week
Based on a book by Martin Sixsmith, Philomena tells the story of a retired Irish nurse (Judi Dench) who reveals to her daughter, 50 years after the fact, that as an unmarried young woman (Sophie Kennedy Clark), she had given birth to a son in a convent. As repayment to the nuns, she was forced to work as their indentured servant and give her son up for adoption. In the film version, Martin, played by Steve Coogan, who also co-wrote the screenplay, decides to tell Philomena’s story after being fired as a spin doctor for Tony Blair’s government. He is an upper class snob who attended Oxford and his initial feelings about the common, naïve and romance novel-reading bitty are both comic and slightly appalling. But as Martin spends more time with Philomena, learning more about her story, he becomes more empathic. Dench is as easy a comedian as she is a tragic heroine, and her versatility and believability are why she is one of the world’s great actresses. It’s a remarkable performance, slightly better than the movie itself.
