Stephen Frears has never failed to impress me as a movie goer and his streak is intact. Philomena is a true story about Philomena Lee, a woman who kept the fact that she had a son fifty years ago hidden from even her own daughter. She finally comes clean on his fiftieth birthday and the only thing she has to remind her of her little King is an old black and white photograph of him when he was two or three and his name, Anthony Lee. When she was very little, Philomena's father dropped her off at an orphanage after her mother passed away and never came back for her. There she was raised by the nuns and forced to work seven days a week as payment for her room and board. One day she goes to a carnival, meets a charming man and gets pregnant. Her son is born and reared in the orphanage until some rich Americans come to purchase a child. The nuns sell the children for a thousand pounds a head and only the wealthy can afford that price back then, and they usually were Americans.
Philomena Lee is played by the incomparable Judi Dench and she is, in a word, marvelous. She is charming, shy, reserved, sarcastic, and plays the "fish out of water" thing perfectly. Her daughter Jane is played by Anna Maxwell Martin and upon hearing that she has a brother out there in the world, she turns to disgraced politician and one time reporter for the BBC, Martin Sixsmith, played by the charming Steve Coogan to see if he can help. Martin has just recently had his fair share of troubles with the current administration and was let go. He picks up Philomena's story at first in the hopes of getting some semblance of his career back on track, but he eventually becomes a dogged an impassioned investigator while trying to find Philomena's son. The two don't always get along or see eye to eye but they are quick to forgive and they ultimately care for one another. The quest takes them from England to Ireland to America and that leads them right back to where they started, back at the orphanage.
What's so heartbreaking about Philomena is that it's based on a true story and that Philomena Lee is a real person. Her story is horrific on one hand and uplifting in another. Martin Sixsmith wrote a book entitled The Lost Child of Philomena Lee and Steve Coogan not only acted in the movie, he was also one of the producers on the film, and he also co-wrote the screenplay based on Martin's book. This was obviously a passionate project for him. According to the text at the end of the film, there are thousands of mothers looking for their lost children and children looking for their mothers. Records have been lost or destroyed which makes that quest all the harder and speaking from a limited experience in that regard, I know how painful that can be. Shot by cinematographer Robbie Ryan, the camera is always present and in the middle of it all but it doesn't feel intrusive. Everything is shot just off to the side, making the audience bystanders in this unfolding drama. Scored beautifully by Alexandre Desplat, the music was subtle and moving which made it perfect. I commend Desplat's light touch and I recommend Philomena, but if you go, you might want to bring some tissues and I'll see you in the theater.
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