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The Children Act (2017)
Nuance and complexity in portraits of moral dilemma are a hallmark of British cinema and The Children Act (2017)deploy these in abundance. It’s a story of the perfect mid-life firestorm: High Court Judge grapples with life and death decisions while her marriage hits the rocks and she becomes emotionally entangled with a 17-year old boy whose life she saved from the bench.
Forensically logical Judge Fiona May (Emma Thompson) is the epitome of the British legal establishment. With a steely gaze, she sees through the verbiage of lesser counsel, and applies the law as Parliament intended. We meet her immersed in work and neglecting her marriage to free-thinking academic Jack (Stanley Tucci). Emotionally rising above her own legal and personal judgement, she is the kind of person who loses no sleep after allowing the separation of conjoint twins on the grounds that one living child outweighs two dead ones. Next, an emergency ruling must be made to save the life of dying teenager Adam (Fionn Whitehead) whose Jehovah Witness parents are refusing a blood transfusion on the grounds that it violates God’s word. At the same time, her husband announces that he wants to have an affair
The Children Act empowers the judge to summarily overrule the parents because Adam is under 18, yet she is impelled to personally meet the boy in hospital and hear him speak. The child-less judge is impressed by Adam’s intelligent awareness of his predicament and the two strike-up an unusual friendship. She rules as everyone expected; the boy’s life is more important than the family’s religious beliefs. Soon after his recovery, he begins to reappear in Fiona’s life and her logical mind becomes emotionally compromised. Her world is shattered when Adam has a relapse and, having turned 18, refuses a transfusion.
What makes this film so riveting is the way its narrative layers intersect and the issues they raise. The supremacy of law over the human right to religious belief, the vesting of life and death power in mortal hands, and the potential for judicial processes to be influenced by emotion, are all challenging contemporary issues. So too are the insights into Jehovah Witness doctrine that it is better to die than accept medical treatment prohibited by God. Each of these are worthy of their own film.
Dame Emma Thompson is one the few actors who can portray, mostly through facial expression and voice intonation, the gravity of a judicial role balanced against the vulnerability of being human. Superb support performances by Stanley Tucci and Fionn Whitehead, with tight editing and a suspense-style of photography, ticks all the boxes for a thought-provoking film that keeps you engaged to its final scenes.
Director: Richard Eyre
Stars: Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Fionn Whitehead
CineMuseFilms 
I’m eternally gratefully that you’ve seen fit to review this film. At the moment I’m gathering my thoughts, feelings and even a little insider knowledge. I look forward to getting back when I have these sorted.
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I await with keen interest to hear what other serious cinephiles think of this film.
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Hi Richard. I’d place “The Children Act” in top place this year with “Leave No Trace” as my favourite films. Coincidentally, both are stories about young people. Maybe there’s a trend?
After a superb image of blood pulsating through a series of veins, the film begins with workaholic Judge Fiona Mayo hunched over her desk. The scene is set for the drama to play out at home and in the courtroom.
The area of storytelling that demanded my emotional investment was Emma Thompson’s determined Judge Mayo and her steadfast refusal to engage with young leukaemia patient Adam, after initiating contact at a vulnerable moment (for her). I was willing her to respond to his pleas regarding further discussion.
This film tapped into themes of shunning, notions of purity and the limits imposed on legal players in pursuit of a case. The whole exceeded the sum of its parts IMHO, and these were considerable.
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Your comment “the whole exceeded the sum of its parts” describes this film perfectly Anita.
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I should have mentioned my name Anita, sorry. I didn’t mean for this to be anonymous.
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I am very excited to see this film. Your review heightens my enthusiasm as always. This is my kind of film.
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Feel free to come back and share your thoughts after seeing it.
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I finally had the opportunity to see this film. I concur with Richard’s, Anita’s, and David’s comments. Now my question to Richard: I looked through your review for comments about elements that might have improved the film. I didn’t see any. So, is there a rule of film critique that forbids assigning 5 stars? I have not read the British or NYT’s reviews that apparently did find faults.
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There is no gold standard in writing about film; regardless of intention, all reviews represent a subjective viewpoint derived from the unique life experience of the writer. Film reviews would be tedious to read if they pointed at the things a film failed to do or things that could have been done better, so they tend to focus on extant features like narrative, performance, and maybe message. For me, most of the impact from The Children Act comes from a single source: the performance of Emma Thompson. The multiple moral dilemmas portrayed in the film are simply platforms on which Thompson can display her talents. Little effort is made to burrow beyond the obvious, and there was so much left unexplored. To answer your question about the lack of 5 star ratings in my reviews, I have only ever awarded one such rating. Yet it was for a film that few people would enjoy: Son of Saul (2015). For me, the narrative is inspired, the cinematography extraordinary, and its capacity to seize a viewer by the throat unparalleled. Above and beyond that is a criterion I would call “social importance”. That is, a five star film is not about entertainment (or not only), but it should possess a level of artistry that can carry a message of great importance. The Holocaust is fading from older memories, and the young do not want to go there. So the effort to remind the world about humanity’s infinite capacity for evil (and thereby, for good) is one of film’s most important contributions.
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Thanks for clarifying, Richard. I like your ratings, but I was a little curious what would constitute 5 in your view, and you’ve explained that very well. We Americans are in the habit of grade-inflating, as I’m sure you know! I try not to do that, and yet I know I’m guilty because I get emotionally carried away sometimes. Well, often. That’s why I love to come to your reviews for a more clear-eyed viewpoint. 😉
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You are too kind Linda; and there is nothing wrong in getting emotionally carried away. I’ll soon list my ten faves of the year and many are based on emotion. What else matters?
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