For a film hailed as Steve Coogan going serious, Philomena is outrageously funny as well as intensely moving. Make no mistake, the story of an Irish women searching for her long lost son torn from her as a toddler is, inevitably, heartbreaking. But Coogan’s script balances this tearful emotional story with laugh out loud comedy.
The true story of an Irish woman thrown into an abbey as a teenager after getting pregnant and forced to give up her child is a tearjerker if ever there was one. In the hands of other writers it could have easily turned into a pithy social realist drama exploring the damaging effects of catholic policy. But the screenplay Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope have created is delicately balanced to leave the audience laughing uproariously seconds after the tears have been pouring down.
Steve Coogan’s character, real life author of Philomena’s story, Martin Sixsmith, is the character the audience aligns itself with. Depressed and cynical, Coogan is brilliant as Sixsmith and it is he who reflects the anger and indignation the audience inevitably feels. Coogan’s observational quips; “I’ve never been to a harvester before” provide laughs, but it is Dame Judi Dench’s Philomena which has the audience in fits.
Wonderfully written and beautifully played, Philomena is not the film you expect. Part road movie, part British comedy, director Stephen Frears has made a film that despite an apparent simplicity is full of beautiful nuances and incredibly balanced and well written emotional sequences. For such a slight tale, Philomena is a film that stays on your mind, but instead of leaving you feeling drained and cynical; it is a tale of letting go and finding forgiveness.
4/5