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THE CHILDREN ACT
Director: Richard Eyre Cast: Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Fionn Whitehead, Jason Watkins, Ben Chaplin MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:45 Release Date: 9/14/18 (limited); 9/28/18 (wider) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 27, 2018 To the casual observer (or a person on the wrong side of one of her judicial rulings), Fiona Maye (Emma Thompson) may look as if she doesn't care. She's a Justice of the High Court in London and hears cases regarding family law. The first case we see her preside over in The Children Act involves newly-born conjoined twins, connected at the chest and sharing a heart. The hospital wants the authority to surgically separate them. The twins' parents do not want the procedure to be performed. If the surgery succeeds, one of the twins will die, while the other is most likely to survive and live a long life. If the doctors do nothing, both twins will have short and possibly painful lives. The scenario almost intentionally seems like an updated version of King Solomon's most famous dilemma, involving the two women fighting over the parentage of a baby. In this case, though, there is no way to determine a fair ruling. There are no sly gambits to uncover the truth, and most especially, there are no winners in the case of the twins. It's an impossible choice, in which death—sooner or later and one or two—is guaranteed in both options. That's the type of case in which Fiona specializes, and as a judge, she took to an oath to decide her rulings without ill-will or affection. She may seem cold, calculating, and completely free of emotion when she's sitting in court. To choose to take on this sort of work, in which the worth of lives and families must be weighed against matters of the law as written and some potentially unknowable greater good, must mean that Fiona cares—and deeply, at that. The screenplay by Ian McEwan (based on his novel) puts before Fiona an even more difficult legal challenge, perhaps, as well as a seemingly arbitrary challenge in her personal life. It's a story that, admirably, wants to give a fuller understanding of this character by exploring more dimensions than her professional life. The drawback is that McEwan doesn't seem to trust the inherent strength and possibilities of the central aspect of the story. It touches upon matters of the law, the ethical ramifications of becoming personally involved in a case, and even a debate about the importance of a person's faith when placed against the person's very survival. The movie touches upon these ideas, but it also becomes just distracted enough by its main subplot that it doesn't quite delve as deeply as it could. The case involves a 17-year-old boy named Adam (Fionn Whitehead), who has leukemia. The doctors assert that the cancer can be treated, perhaps even cured, with the proper medical care. In order to receive that treatment, Adam requires a blood transfusion. Since he was raised as and is a practicing Jehovah's Witness, both of his parents (played by Ben Chaplin and Eileen Walsh) are refusing the transfusion on religious grounds (Blood holds the essence of the soul, according to their beliefs). Adam agrees with his parents' choice, but the hospital wants to proceed in his best interest, since he is not of legal age to make such decisions on his own. The case itself would seem to be of vital importance, so of course, for additional drama, there's a complication for Fiona at home. Her husband Jack (Stanley Tucci) has decided that he wants to have an affair after years of feeling ignored by his wife. Fiona's ruling on the issue, naturally, is that such a decision would be the end of their marriage. He packs up the car and leaves anyway. The idea of this subplot seems to be to put Fiona in an uncharacteristically emotional state of mind. For one thing, it's unnecessary, because the case itself puts her into that state. Believing that Adam is old enough to have some say in the matter of his fate, Fiona visits him in the hospital to hear his side of things. The young man impresses her to such an extent that she rules in favor of the hospital. Adam deserves to have the chance to live and love. Here, though, is where it becomes tricky—and shows that the story of Fiona's involvement in the case is more than enough to explore the character's various dimensions. Adam becomes nearly obsessive with the judge, believing that she holds some secret about the meaning of his life—a meaning that once belonged to a faith system that has subsequently rejected him. Fiona grapples with the idea of bonding in some way with the teenager whose fate she helped determine, because here is a soul reaching out to her in confusion, pain, and uncertainty. The central conflict of this drama is between Fiona's professional duty and her personal feelings. She exists as a full character, even without Jack mucking up her life with his indecisive dithering about what he wants. Thompson's performance is assured in how the real conflict here plays out within every moment of her increasingly tense interactions with Adam. Here, then, is a complex and worthwhile character—a woman who does care but feels professionally obligated to keep that to herself. The Children Act is a thoughtful examination that, unfortunately and distractingly, bites off a little more than is necessary to communicate the truth of its central character. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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