The first reviews....
'The Children Act': Film Review | TIFF 2017
The Hollywood Reporter, Saturday, September 9, 2017
The bottom line: A drama illuminated by two electric performances
In the London-set drama adapted from an acclaimed Ian McEwan novel, Emma Thompson plays a High Court judge who specializes in family law cases. And she delivers what has to be one of the most nuanced and moving performances of her entire career. The film is also notable for showcasing another superb performance, by up-and-coming actor Fionn Whitehead (also featured prominently in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk). But his is essentially a strong supporting role, whereas Thompson appears in virtually every scene. With two performances of this caliber, the film is guaranteed to generate attention and acclaim, even though its downbeat subject matter represents a major commercial challenge. The film is seeking an American distributor, and it deserves to find one who will give it the marketing push that it needs.
The film has been intelligently adapted by McEwan himself, and Richard Eyre (Iris, Notes on a Scandal, and the underrated Stage Beauty) has done a good job of direction in certain scenes. A musical performance that ends in a breakdown by Fiona is especially well handled, and Eyre adds a telling visual touch in the final scene that was not in the novel. But the director also makes a few miscalculations that hurt the film. Although veteran composer Stephen Warbeck is credited for his score, much of the music actually consists of passages from Bach that add an unfortunate touch of ponderousness and pretension to the film. The story is lugubrious enough without including this dirgelike music to punish the audience.
READ FULL REVIEW: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/children-act-review-1036269
Emma Thompson Grapples with Conscience in Sluggish Legal Drama
The Wrap, Saurday, Sepember 9, 2017
TIFF 2017: Ian McEwan adapts his own novel about a conflicted judge, but for all the beating gavels, there’s no pulse here
If Emma Thompson can’t make "The Children Act," a drama about a family-court judge conflicted over her own decisions and the precarious state of her own family, into something interesting and meaningful, then no one can. And she can’t.
Screenwriter Ian McEwan, adapting his own novel, and director Richard Eyre ("Notes on a Scandal") have assembled a fine cast to tackle controversial subjects brimming over with dramatic possibility, but the results are stultifyingly subdued. It’s all so polite, so sober, so convinced of its own importance, that it never has a pulse. This is love and life and death discussed as though they were paint swatches for the guest room.
There are big ideas swirling around "The Children Act" about love and fidelity and spirituality and guilt and responsibility, but McEwan and Eyre have each of them either land with a thud or dissipate into the mist. We’re left with Thompson looking glum and unsatisfied, while Stanley Tucci tut-tuts and Whitehead has explosions of exuberance that get creepier as the film progresses.
A film this steeped in respectability really wants you to take it seriously (and to consider it during awards season), but its many fine pieces never add up the way they should.
READ FULL REVIEW: http://www.thewrap.com/children-act-review-emma-thompson-fionn-whitehead/
The Children Act
NOW Toronto, Saturday, September 9, 2017
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.
https://nowtoronto.com/movies/tiff2017/the-children-act-review/