Philomena - 3 smiles

“Philomena,” starring Judi Dench, is based on the true story told in Martin Sixsmith’s 2009 book, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee. The movie recounts the journey taken by Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) from Ireland to Washington in the company of 60-something Philomena Lee (Dench) to search for the son who was stolen from her nearly five decades earlier. The film, directed with a minimum of emotional manipulation by Stephen Frears, is at times funny and uplifting, but the lighter elements don’t conceal the deep underlying tragedy of a mother and son desperately trying to find each other, stymied by people desperate to protect their secrets.

Although the screenplay contains samples of Coogan’s trademark dry (and often sarcastic) humor, it’s mostly a serious effort. “Philomena” is as much a detective story as a character-based narrative. The film also contains elements of the ‘mismatched buddy’ story, with Philomena and Sixsmith starting out as reluctant allies with very different views on religion before developing a strong friendship. Frears and Dench, exhibiting her range in a performance that will probably end up with her name on the Best Actress Oscar list, manage the difficult task of causing the audience to care about Philomena’s exhumation of the past and its occasionally surprising revelations. Frears isn’t subtle in the way he condemns the actions of the Irish Catholic Church during the 1950s and he is equally critical of the homophobia of the 1980s United States, especially for those with allegiance to the Republican Party. “Philomena” is a simple, well-told story and certainly worth seeing. 11/24/13