Vera Drake
A great movie from the consistently excellent Mike Leigh, who gave us Life is Sweet, Naked, Secrets and Lies, and Topsy-Turvy. Leigh is one of the most ungimmicky directors around, and such discretion is a key part of Vera Drake's success. The camera is almost always at eye level or thereabouts, giving the entire picture a very human perspective. The story unfolds in a very straightforward manner. The only diversions are the story of the budding romance between Vera's daughter and a veteran, and the efforts of her brother and sister-in-law to start a family. Both serve well as narrative foils for the development of the central drama of Vera's efforts to help young women and the cost she must bear for doing so. Here's a strange fact from IMDb: "Except for Imelda Staunton, none of the actors knew that the film was about abortion until their characters find out. Each actors only knew what concerned their characters." Here's another one: "Filmed with no script, the film went on to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay for 2005 Oscar. Mike Leigh said that he "had to prepare the screenplay so it can be sent out to academy members. But actually the screenplay that was nominated doesn't exist. The film is the screenplay."
The film being an almost complete success, I can only assume that this strategy was a significant factor that helped make it work. It certainly contributed to the scene of Vera's initial questioning, as well as the extraordinary exchange between Philip Davis and Daniel Mays following Vera's detainment. Every performance is masterful, although Imelda Staunton's certainly does stand out, and not awarding her the Oscar for best actress makes about as much sense as withholding the Oscar from The Aviator for best picture. Lesley Manville is wonderful as the begging-to-be-despised Mrs. Wells and Simon Chandler is equally good as her abiding and yet complacent husband.
It’s tremendous aesthetic achievement notwithstanding; Vera Drake is an extremely difficult film to watch. The various abortions performed on wretched women in dilapidated surroundings are particularly miserable, and for all Vera's humanity and good will she seemed to me remarkably unconcerned with their psychological distress. I don't think this quite squares with the many, many instances of her kindness in almost every other situation. Nor do I buy the usual chatter about the non-political nature of the film. Where Leigh stands on the issue of abortion is perfectly plain, and the fact that he endows the title character with a naive saintliness right out of a child's picture book of holy women robs the film of any chance at dealing honestly with the inner life of his heroine. Compare this with Claude Chabrol's "Une affaire de femmes," a movie as equally difficult to watch, but which assumes a great deal more moral complexity in the main character. That Leigh's film is a greater success in terms of its story, its acting and its simple mise en scene is a testament to his and his actors' achievement, but let's not kid ourselves about the politics.
The film being an almost complete success, I can only assume that this strategy was a significant factor that helped make it work. It certainly contributed to the scene of Vera's initial questioning, as well as the extraordinary exchange between Philip Davis and Daniel Mays following Vera's detainment. Every performance is masterful, although Imelda Staunton's certainly does stand out, and not awarding her the Oscar for best actress makes about as much sense as withholding the Oscar from The Aviator for best picture. Lesley Manville is wonderful as the begging-to-be-despised Mrs. Wells and Simon Chandler is equally good as her abiding and yet complacent husband.
It’s tremendous aesthetic achievement notwithstanding; Vera Drake is an extremely difficult film to watch. The various abortions performed on wretched women in dilapidated surroundings are particularly miserable, and for all Vera's humanity and good will she seemed to me remarkably unconcerned with their psychological distress. I don't think this quite squares with the many, many instances of her kindness in almost every other situation. Nor do I buy the usual chatter about the non-political nature of the film. Where Leigh stands on the issue of abortion is perfectly plain, and the fact that he endows the title character with a naive saintliness right out of a child's picture book of holy women robs the film of any chance at dealing honestly with the inner life of his heroine. Compare this with Claude Chabrol's "Une affaire de femmes," a movie as equally difficult to watch, but which assumes a great deal more moral complexity in the main character. That Leigh's film is a greater success in terms of its story, its acting and its simple mise en scene is a testament to his and his actors' achievement, but let's not kid ourselves about the politics.
posted by Quin Finnegan at 3:22 PM
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