When BBC appears as the producing house of a long feature film viewers may expect a few things – a good and articulated script of a story taking place in England now or then, professional acting performances but also some extra-verbosity in beautifully spoken British English, and a rather cautious not to say conservatory approach to film making. At their best, these films may provide wonderful dramas bringing up thought-provoking historical or contemporary issues of interest. At their worst they can be insipid, boring and rhetorical, closer to bad filmed theater than to true cinematographic art, and may even be spoken in Scottish English. ‘The Children Act‘ is luckily one of these productions that belong to the first and good category, with a combination of compelling topics inherited from the book written by Ian McEwan who also authored the script and allowing for a huge performance by Emma Thompson.
The story. Fiona May (Emma Thompson) is a highly respected judge in London, who decides in tough and very public cases of life and death, of personal vs. public interest, of human rights vs. religious constrains. She pays for this stature and achievements in her personal life with her childless marriage disintegrating as her husband (Stanley Tucci) decides to have an affair and she refuses to compromise with the situation. Still the two sides of her life seem well separated by the door she uses to enter in the courtroom she presides, until a new case, of a teenager (Fionn Whitehead) who refuses life-saving treatment by blood transfusions because of religious motives. The aging judge and the young man will shatter each other’s world and will establish a connection that raises many moral questions and issues.
‘My Lady’ is the way we learn women judges must me addressed in British courts of law, and the wonderful acting performance of Emma Thompson fully justifies this title also on screen. The two relationships that compose the intrigue allow for the two partners of Emma Thompson to put on value their acting skills too. Stanley Tucci in the role of the cheating but still loving husband has a difficult task to explain his character that many would otherwise hate, and succeeds to make it likeable. Fionn Whitehead fights to avoid that the role of the teenager fall into melodrama, and mostly succeeds. It is however, this pivotal relationship that crosses only in part the screen. While the social constrains and the reasons of rejection that make the relationship impossible are quite clear, it is the bonding part and magnetism between the two heroes that work only in part. There is much talking in the film, but, hey, the British intellectual media ARE verbose, and the high judicial class environment is described in careful details. Director Richard Eyre did not explore to their end all the promising directions open by the story, but the result of his efforts is still impressive.