THE CHILDREN ACT SPEC D: Richard Eyre. UK. 105 min. Sep 9, 2:30 pm, Elgin Sep 10, 8:45 am, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1. Rating: NNN
This very faithful adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel – he wrote the screenplay – isn’t a barnburner but, anchored by Emma Thompson’s excellent performance, definitely keeps your interest.
She plays an emotionally atrophied high court judge who gets more than she bargained for after she pays an official visit to the subject of her current case – a boy three months short of adulthood who’s refusing life-saving medical treatment for religious reasons.
Set against her crumbling marriage – Stanley Tucci plays her husband – the story centres on her emerging panic as she rediscovers the ability to feel something. The film may be pedestrian in the ways it’s shot – a BBC production and all – but Thompson expertly embodies a woman deeply conflicted.
Worth a look just for her.
