The Children Act

Greetings again from the darkness. There are some actors who are so talented that they elevate most any material to a watchable status. Emma Thompson is one of the few. She is an Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay (SENSE AND SENSIBILITY) and for Best Actress (HOWARD'S END), and her career is comprised of interesting characters ... many made so because of her performance. The film is directed by Richard Eyre, who has two terrific films in NOTES ON A SCANDAL (2006) and IRIS (2001), and adapted from his own novel by Ian McEwan (ATONEMENT, ON CHESIL BEACH). We are introduced to British High Court Judge Fiona Maye as she announces her opinion on a case involving conjoined twins. As an expert in family law cases, Judge Maye is respected for fairness and decisiveness. Just as the reality of her crumbling marriage to Jack (Stanley Tucci) hits, she is drawn into yet another case where emotions (and media) are running high. Adam (Fionn Whitehead, DUNKIRK) is in dire need of a blood transfusion, which his Jehovah's Witness religion and parents will not allow. It's at this point that we believe we are in for a stressful courtroom drama facing religious intricacies. However, there is very little to the court case - only the highly unusual step of the judge visiting the sick minor in the hospital. The highly anticipated moral dilemma never unfolds, and instead we get an oddball friendship, ever-creepier stalking sequence, and emotional unmasking. It's a bit of a letdown. Are we to believe that Judge Fiona Maye is conflicted about anything? She doesn't appear to be. She made up her mind to focus on work, and only seemed to have forgotten to mention this to her husband, whose wants push him towards infidelity. Jason Watkins has a terrific turn as Nigel, the judge's meticulous assistant who is there in good times and bad. The story could be viewed from a woman's perspective on how the dedication to career comes with a cost, but that same cost would likely be paid by a man in this situation as well. The title of the film is specific to a British law in dealing with aspects of minors, making the court case even less suspenseful than we might think. It's not a courtroom drama per se, and it doesn't dive deep enough to be a look at a dysfunctional marriage, and it's simply too bland to be the study of a workaholic carrying guilt over never having kids - shouldn't this issue have been resolved by now, given the age of this couple? It's a crazy "R" rating over one line of dialogue, and it's really Ms. Thompson's performance that provides the only reason to see the film.

How does one balance a life dedicated to public service 24/7 against a personal life? The reality is that one cannot, and so must rely on the sacrifice of oneself and others. Emma Thompson plays this challenging role with superb ease while the main movie theme deals with the contradictions posed by religious belief and scientific progress via the legal system, which neatly folds back to the personal life. In character, Emma Thompson saves a boy, who in turn saves her through his death. Seek help if you come out of this movie with a dry eyes. Excellent.

I really love Emma Thompson and I have always enjoyed her films. Stanley Tucci is one of the recent favorites, he's really good actor. However, this film - for me - left a lot to be desired. To be honest, after watching the film, I thought the trailer was much better than the feature itself. The film starts really good but around the half it takes a nosedive. So much so, that by the end I couldn't wait for it to end. I thought that nothing on this movie was really developed and characters are kinda bland and flat. Also, there are plot holes which I won't go into, because I don't want to make spoilers. However, if you think about the plot at all, you have to wonder how or why certain situations came to be. You have to wonder because nothing was explained, they were sort of just planted into the film and left like that. All in all, let's just say it had a potential, but failed in almost every area that counts. On the plus side, Emma Thompson's acting was amazing, as usual. Unfortunately, Stanley Tucci has maybe 10 minutes on screen, which is a shame. Also, Fionn Whitehead is perfect for horrors and psychological thrillers. The creepiness of his gaze really made an impression on me.

After the first 25 mins the story just disintegrates and at the end you are wondering just what the point of the film was. Some say it was thought provoking, my only thought was why it was made, it certainly did not have a point or any climax.

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source: The Children Act

The movie was a mixed bag of themes and contradictions and was certainly not the riveting court room drama I had anticipated from the trailer. Emma Thompson played a "machine" lawyer who seemed to get off on her control over other people's lives. Her emotional life was as dry as the Sahara desert and her only off-duty activity was playing sterile Bach Partitas, an occupation not known to get the juices flowing. After years of emotional neglect her long suffering husband (Stanley Tucci) stated he needed intimacy (sex, perhaps he would even settle for a kiss or a hug at this point) and this was viewed by Lady Haye (Emma Thompson), as a consummate betrayal of their love (yeah right). Within these two contexts she was clearly emotionally vulnerable and allowed, nay entertained intellectually a vulnerable teenagers infatuation (quite bizarre!). Like a moth to the flame she got burnt and her overweening vanity was exposed for all to see. The scriptwriter then indulged us, the poor viewer, with a "Brief Encounter" parallel, when it was inferred Lady Haye had been gone for some time, (absent from the marriage) but now she was back and knew where her duty lay. Achieved brilliantly in Brief Encounter and bungled here. Firstly the movie was just tawdry, Stanley Tucci's character should just have been brave enough to dump Lady Haye or have had an affair and kept schtum! (I would have done both). Secondly, Lady Haye would never have had an affair or even contemplated a liaison with a 17 year old boy when a stud like Stanley Tucci was waiting on the bed at home gagging for it, so the plot was really quite ridiculous. The music was good, that was it, the acting solid but nothing special. Overall it was distasteful and I should not have bothered watching this at all.

I was so disappointed by this film unfortunately. If I am honest I was expecting a gritty drama focussing on courtroom arguments, legal and moral dilemmas and believable characters. I got none of this. The courtroom section was over before I'd even finished my cup of tea and the rest of the film felt disjointed, drawn out and flat. Even Emma Thompson's character was somewhat lacking although I can't fault her acting. And the young boy was quite frankly creepy and very hard to get behind as a character. This film could have focussed on so many complex issues in an in-depth and challenging way but seemed to waste all of this on weakly portrayed "affairs of the heart".

How does one balance a life dedicated to public service 24/7 against a personal life? The reality is that one cannot, and so must rely on the sacrifice of oneself and others. Emma Thompson plays this challenging role with superb ease while the main movie theme deals with the contradictions posed by religious belief and scientific progress via the legal system, which neatly folds back to the personal life. In character, Emma Thompson saves a boy, who in turn saves her through his death. Seek help if you come out of this movie with a dry eyes. Excellent.

*WARNING - SPOILERS* This is very much an 'adult' themed movie... Sadly such movies usually fare poorly in terms of their IMDB rating - but this is one worth watching! Don't be put off by the mediocre score! It will have you pondering the meaning of the movie long after the credits have finished rolling... The Children Act is a portrait of the clash of the Legal vs Spiritual realms trying to resolve the issues of everyday Human Morality. Emma Thompson represents the Legal System in the role of Fiona 'Justice' Maye and Fionn Whitehead the representative of the Spiritual System in the role of Jehovah's Witness Adam Henry. What soon becomes apparent is that Fiona Maye's marriage is about to implode due to long term neglect with the announcement by her husband Jack (Stanley Tucci) that he wishes to have an affair. The marital collapse is an analogy of Maye's own internal collapsing of her dependence upon the Legal system to resolve life's moral dilemmas. Justice Maye has devoted her life to the Legal System, which addresses the core necessities of life but is unable to answer the need for spiritual dignity and a divine relationship. Conversely, the Jehovah Witness' spiritual position cannot resolve the moral complexities of life other than by leaving these to 'God's Will'. We are left considering what is 'conscience' and how this directs our knowledge of Right from Wrong. Both are left empty and bankrupt of real solutions to life - an arbitrary blowing of the wind... Justice Maye's decision to go and see Adam in Hospital is a key turning point in her deeper questioning of the ultimate value of the Legal system and its limitations to address these moral issues of life and death (from a legal position, the courts always rule that the blood transfusion will take place against the patients/parents wishes - there was no need for Fiona to visit Adam in hospital...). Adam's acquiescence to the blood transfusion that will save his life (but not his peace of mind) is an effective divorce from his religious principles and relationships within the church and his family. Adam's attempt to reach out to Fiona and build a relationship with her is ultimately rewarded on his death bed following another relapse but neither find resolution of their deeper need for answers. There simply are none. The Children Act leaves you deeply aware of the futility of trying to resolve these deeper humanistic issues. There simply are no answers other than to chose the lesser of two evils in any given situation, which is a purely subjective process!