The Children Act, written by Ian McEwan, based on his book - 7 out of 10

The Children Act, written by Ian McEwan, based on his book
7 out of 10


All the premises for this motion picture seem to be more than favorable, which may be part of the problem...
Positive psychology purports that we need to lower our expectations, perhaps for cases like this.

The script is written by a genius, based on his book, Ian McEwan, a phenomenal author whose Atonement has been an outstanding novel - among so many others...Black Dogs, The Comfort of Strangers, the Man Booker Prize winner Amsterdam, to name just a few - and such a glorious film!
It is also true that the recent On Chesil Beach, based on another outstanding work by the same writer, has been less than overwhelming.

Which is true for this new adaptation.
Emma Thompson has been divine in films like Sense and Sensibility, The Remains of the Day and so many others.

Notwithstanding, she seems off the mark here, with a gauche manner of interpretation, although I could obviously be very wrong.

The character she plays is indeed difficult, a judge, Fiona Maye, also called Mylady in her official capacity, a woman under pressure, disappointed by her husband, tired and overwhelmed by her challenging cases.

She has to decide on the life and death of two Siamese twins, that would both die if they stay united, while the operation that needs to severe the connection would kill the feeble one.
A superficial look would suggest that this is easy, you save what you can, but it is not  a subject to treat with superficiality when the result is the killing of one baby.

Then there is the daunting task of deciding in another desperate and complex case, that of Adam Henry  - I thought the actor a very poor choice for this character- a boy who would be eighteen in just a few months, but as it is he falls under The Children Act, who is a member of the community of the Jehova Witnesses.
This boy and his parents refuse a transfusion that would save his life, given that he suffers from leukemia and without new blood, his body, which has stopped producing new cells, would face a gruesome demise.

Only since about the middle of the XXth century, some leader of the Jehova Witnesses has decided that blood transfusions are impure, a severe breaking of the rules set in the bible - at a time where there were no transfusion and hence they were actually not banned in the holy book - and strictly forbidden.
The judge decides to see the patient, talks and sings with him, makes the proper decisions and thus the doctors make the transfusion and save the life of the teenager.

He then rejects his faith, writes to his Savior, My Lady, and then follows her to Nothingham, where she is on a circuit, passing sentences in the country.
In a bizarre scene, he explains he wants to move in and live with the judge and her husband and he would also like to sail around the world, in a boat with her. 

Before he takes the taxi and departs as requested, they kiss on the mouth.
The ending is shocking, but I will not mention a word about it.

All the ingredients where there, including the presence of another wonderful actor, Stanley Tucci, but the result is not exhilarating.
There is though that joke with the brain in a jar and the corpse without it that could still be working in the law profession somewhere, even brainless, adding to the long list of lawyer humor.