Director:Â Richard Eyre
Cast:Â Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Fionn Whitehead, Ben Chaplin, Eileen Walsh, Anthony Calf, Rupert Vansittart, Jason Watkins
Rating: 12A
Running time: 105 mins
Release date: 24/8/18
Ian McEwan‘s pedigree as one of the finest writers in Britain today has been confirmed by the number of adaptations of his work in recent years, amongst them the award-winning ATONEMENT, with Keira Knightley and James McEvoy, ENDURING LOVE with Daniel Craig, Samantha Morton and Rhys Ifans and his screenplay for the Macaulay Culkin thriller THE GOOD SON, which was the anti-thesis of Culkin’s resourceful home defender Kevin in the HOME ALONE films.
Richard Eyre directs and FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL’s Duncan Kenworthy produces the latest McEwan adaptation, THE CHILDREN ACT, which brings together Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci as a couple in crisis.
Fiona and Jack Maye, a JP and lecturer respectively, are undergoing their fair amount of mid-life crises, which manifests itself during a busy period of court cases for Fiona when Jack announces that he is going to have an affair, despite his evident love for his detached and hard-working wife.
Fiona’s moral and legal resolve is suddenly tested when she is confronted with a case involving a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Parents Kevin and Naomi Henry (Ben Chaplin and Eileen Walsh) are against the idea of a blood transfusion being administered to their very-ill son, Adam (Fionn Whitehead), who is also firmly of the belief that blood from another human being is immoral and not a pure action. Fiona proposes to visit Adam in hospital to see what his true motivation is behind the prospect of dying without thought. However, her bond with Adam is set to go far being the sacrosanct boundaries of the law courts and setting….
A similar moral dilemma facing the Jehovah’s Witness faith was explored in a similar vein in the recent release APOSTASY and to some degree that film explores the more intimate relationship between a mother, her children and their faith. Here, however, this a much broader and more mainstream approach, heightened by a fine performance from Emma Thompson, who continues to give first-rate performances when given material of quality.
THE CHILDREN ACT certainly provides a thought-provoking idea at the heart of it’s narrative, but there are two very competent films within it’s structure, both of which would work well if the film-makers had made creative choices. The marriage-in-crisis is neglected for the sake of the relationship between Fiona and Adam, although Tucci does command the screen whenever he is interacting with Thompson. Chaplin, Walsh and Whitehead are also commendable in their roles as the highly-religious family.
All in all, an admirable drama, but does lack focus on occasion.
