Philomena (2013) 9/10

Starring : Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham
Director : Stephen Frears
Running Time : 99 mins

Disgraced Labour MP Martin Sixsmith (Coogan) decides to go back to his previous job as a journalist and agrees to do a human interest story about Philomena Lee (Dench), a woman whose son was taken away from her fifty years earlier by a group of nuns. As he investigates he discovers there is much more to the story and that the nuns had been selling the children to wealthy Americans and then purposely keeping details of the parents and children away from those that tried to find their families.

This is a wonderfully fun yet sad story that is perfectly performed by Dench and Coogan. Midway the story seems to come to an end, but what follows shows how far the character of Sixsmith has come in the course of the movie. Fans of Dench will love her in this, and fans of Coogan will be surprised by his ability to perform drama as well as comedy. This is a true gem that everyone will enjoy.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Sessions