I believe the thing that harms this movie the most is its posters. They are lovely, don’t get me wrong, but if you look them up, you think Philomena is a “feel good movie” starring the one and only Dame Judi Dench. And this movie might be that at times. But it’s actually much deeper, slightly darker, and filled with incredibly complex themes of (self)-hate, anger, forgiveness and letting go of all that anger and hate that it deserves your attention and time.

Firstly, it’s based on the unbelievably real phenomenon of rich people buying orphans because they could. And the Catholic church then wiped away all the evidence. You might be shocked to hear that the Catholic church would have done something like this; historically, they weren’t involved in any massive scandal(s) involving children… I mean, who would have thought? Not me, that’s for sure. Anyway, we follow Philomena, who had a child as a teenager and was punished for it by, effectively, slaving away at this covenant and ultimately having her boy given up for adoption. And 50 (!) years later, she finally decides to try and find him.

I won’t tell you anything else because this movie takes turns I wasn’t expecting. It’s not “twisty” by any means; it just doesn’t follow any “conventional” route. Every time I thought: “This is where we are going”, the movie took a detour to that place that was much more interesting than I had in mind. And ultimately, I love films that do that. I have seen many films, and it’s always a welcome surprise when you think you can clearly tell where this is going, only to have the rug pulled from underneath you, but it makes sense. And some of these turns can be heart-breaking.

That brings me to our main cast. Writing “Dame Judi Dench is a phenomenal actress.” feels like saying water is wet, sand is coarse and irritating and gets everywhere, or having a high ground can be advantageous when fighting on a planet of burning lava. But she is excellent in this film, especially in those small moments. She doesn’t have any “big Oscar moments” despite the fact she was nominated for this role. She’s been steadily excellent throughout this movie, with some moments bordering on phenomenal. She is a treasure.

I have only known Steve Coogan from his comedic roles, and even those I haven’t seen that much. But he nailed his role. I can’t imagine being an actor and my scene partner being Dame Judi Dench, but he isn’t me and handled it with no hesitation. He also co-wrote this screenplay (alongside Jeff Pope) and got nominated for that, but not for his performance, which is a shame. Yes, this is all about Philomena, but his character had to be purposively on different wavelengths the entire film and that could have been such a thankless role. I can imagine that would backfire in any lesser film, and this character would not work. But he made it work; we understand him every step of the way, and despite everything he does, I feel for him, even if I don’t agree with everything he did.

And I think my last sentence summarizes Philomena perfectly. What makes this movie stand out is the complexity of… well, everything. The most important thing this film talks about is how people will be mad or angry, and more often than not, they have every right to be. But it’s up to you how you react to people or situations that made you angry, whether you are controlling your emotions. Is that anger placed on the appropriate person? Is that even “your anger”, and aren’t you just angry on someone else’s behalf? This film shows us all these facets of different, complex emotions and how you can forgive someone, even if they may not deserve it. That is where this movie goes from “pretty great” to “excellent” in my eyes. There are many layers this film touches on, and I haven’t even mentioned many others because I don’t want to spoil anything, but all these layers work in harmony.

That would be my last point; Philomena never managed to bore me. Sure, it’s only 98 minutes, so nothing crazy, but this film takes you on a journey and by the end, I could have sworn this was longer. But in the best way possible, when you can’t believe how much a movie covered in its fairly short length. Philomena never bores you, always moves forward, and when you have Steve with Dame Judi in its centre, you are set for success.

Overall, Philomena is an excellent movie; I feel people aren’t talking about it enough. It features one of the best performances by a living legend Dame Judi Dench, and one perfect performance by Steve Coogan, who also co-wrote the screenplay. It is a movie with a heart, but it also openly talks about a dark past in Ireland and the Catholic church. And when you read that, you think you’d know exactly where this is going, but trust me, you have no idea. Watch it for yourself, please, you won’t regret it.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke