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| Philomena: Steve Coogan and Judi Dench hit front in Golden Lion race | Philomena: Steve Coogan and Judi Dench hit front in Golden Lion race |
| (17 days later) | |
| After delighting British cinema audiences with the big-screen debut of Alan Partridge, Steve Coogan could be in line for international recognition at the Venice Film festival. Philomena Philomena has emerged as one of the frontrunners for the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival as it had its successful world premiere on the Lido. Critics gave it a rousing ovation as it finished and one observer said it was "the best reaction … since The Kings Speech". | After delighting British cinema audiences with the big-screen debut of Alan Partridge, Steve Coogan could be in line for international recognition at the Venice Film festival. Philomena Philomena has emerged as one of the frontrunners for the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival as it had its successful world premiere on the Lido. Critics gave it a rousing ovation as it finished and one observer said it was "the best reaction … since The Kings Speech". |
| The film is the story of an Irish working-class woman called Philomena Lee as she searches for the son who was forcibly removed from her by the nuns running the convent where she had been placed after becoming pregnant. Lee worked in an abbey laundry in Roscrea, County Tipperary, in a not dissimilar situation to the girls in Peter Mullan's film The Magdalene Sisters. Lee's quest, crucially, was taken up by former BBC correspondent and former Downing Street spin doctor Martin Sixsmith, on whose book the film is based. Steve Coogan, whose company Baby Cow produced Philomena, stars as Sixsmith, while Judi Dench plays the title role. The film is directed by Stephen Frears, who last came to Venice with The Queen. | The film is the story of an Irish working-class woman called Philomena Lee as she searches for the son who was forcibly removed from her by the nuns running the convent where she had been placed after becoming pregnant. Lee worked in an abbey laundry in Roscrea, County Tipperary, in a not dissimilar situation to the girls in Peter Mullan's film The Magdalene Sisters. Lee's quest, crucially, was taken up by former BBC correspondent and former Downing Street spin doctor Martin Sixsmith, on whose book the film is based. Steve Coogan, whose company Baby Cow produced Philomena, stars as Sixsmith, while Judi Dench plays the title role. The film is directed by Stephen Frears, who last came to Venice with The Queen. |
| Philomena is the latest in a string of films attacking the Roman Catholic church, but Coogan was quick to deny Philomena was a "polemic". "Although it criticises the way the church as an institution behaves, it dignifies people of faith, in the shape of Philomena. An attack would have been too simplistic, and in these modern times quite an easy thing to do." | Philomena is the latest in a string of films attacking the Roman Catholic church, but Coogan was quick to deny Philomena was a "polemic". "Although it criticises the way the church as an institution behaves, it dignifies people of faith, in the shape of Philomena. An attack would have been too simplistic, and in these modern times quite an easy thing to do." |
| "In all the things that have happened inside the church, it's the people of simple faith who have been often forgotten." | "In all the things that have happened inside the church, it's the people of simple faith who have been often forgotten." |
| Dench agreed, saying "it was a story that had to be told". She also said she doubted she would have the same "scope of humanity" as Lee, able to forgive her abusers. Citing her own faith, Quakerism, she said: "I wish I could say easily, yes I have the spirit to forgive, but I doubt if I would." | Dench agreed, saying "it was a story that had to be told". She also said she doubted she would have the same "scope of humanity" as Lee, able to forgive her abusers. Citing her own faith, Quakerism, she said: "I wish I could say easily, yes I have the spirit to forgive, but I doubt if I would." |
| Frears, who said he came late to the project, said he saw the potential immediately. "It was a very interesting subject, and very controversial; the complexity was what I liked. Though my heart was much more with the cynical journalist, I have to say." | Frears, who said he came late to the project, said he saw the potential immediately. "It was a very interesting subject, and very controversial; the complexity was what I liked. Though my heart was much more with the cynical journalist, I have to say." |
| Philomena began as an exemplary piece of investigative journalism by Sixsmith, who took up Lee's case in 2004 after she had been thwarted with a number of inquiries to discover what had happened to her child, named Antony, after he was adopted in 1955 at the age of four. As both the book and film reveals, Anthony ended up with an American family, and was renamed Michael Hess, growing on to become a prominent lawyer and Republican party stalwart. Although the rest of his story is revealed in full detail in Sixsmith's book, published in 2009, the film itself uses subsequent developments as major narrative twists. | Philomena began as an exemplary piece of investigative journalism by Sixsmith, who took up Lee's case in 2004 after she had been thwarted with a number of inquiries to discover what had happened to her child, named Antony, after he was adopted in 1955 at the age of four. As both the book and film reveals, Anthony ended up with an American family, and was renamed Michael Hess, growing on to become a prominent lawyer and Republican party stalwart. Although the rest of his story is revealed in full detail in Sixsmith's book, published in 2009, the film itself uses subsequent developments as major narrative twists. |
| Coogan said it was important to inject a note of comedy into the harrowing story – "you need some relief from it … to sugar the pill" – but not to go too far. "It was important we didn't go overboard with it. I asked Stephen [Frears] to keep an eye on me, to tell me to tone it down if my face became too animated. It was important not to trivialise it." Coogan also said he was as interested in the relationship between journalist and story as about the lost child. "I wanted the film to be about him and his relationship with Philomena, and make it about a middle-aged, well educated cynic and a working-class Irish woman who was far less cynical." | Coogan said it was important to inject a note of comedy into the harrowing story – "you need some relief from it … to sugar the pill" – but not to go too far. "It was important we didn't go overboard with it. I asked Stephen [Frears] to keep an eye on me, to tell me to tone it down if my face became too animated. It was important not to trivialise it." Coogan also said he was as interested in the relationship between journalist and story as about the lost child. "I wanted the film to be about him and his relationship with Philomena, and make it about a middle-aged, well educated cynic and a working-class Irish woman who was far less cynical." |
| Sixsmith, unsurprisingly, proved helpful to the film-makers, and Coogan and his fellow scriptwriter Jeff Pope worked large elements of his biography into the film, notably the effect of having to leave his job as director of communications at the department of transport in 2002 in the backwash of the "burying news" scandal. Sixsmith denied that he rang journalists to tell them that special adviser Jo Moore was attempting to "bury" bad news about rail performance on the day of Princess Margaret's funeral, but admitted sending Moore an email warning her. He has since reinvented himself as a novelist and writer of non-fiction and history. He also worked as a consultant on TV political satire The Thick of It, and its spin-off movie In the Loop. | Sixsmith, unsurprisingly, proved helpful to the film-makers, and Coogan and his fellow scriptwriter Jeff Pope worked large elements of his biography into the film, notably the effect of having to leave his job as director of communications at the department of transport in 2002 in the backwash of the "burying news" scandal. Sixsmith denied that he rang journalists to tell them that special adviser Jo Moore was attempting to "bury" bad news about rail performance on the day of Princess Margaret's funeral, but admitted sending Moore an email warning her. He has since reinvented himself as a novelist and writer of non-fiction and history. He also worked as a consultant on TV political satire The Thick of It, and its spin-off movie In the Loop. |
| From the response on the Lido, Coogan, Dench and Frears can be confident they have a critical and commercial hit on their hands – but is that enough, journalists wondered. Frears, smiling, said he'd like the pope to see it. "He seems a good bloke!" | From the response on the Lido, Coogan, Dench and Frears can be confident they have a critical and commercial hit on their hands – but is that enough, journalists wondered. Frears, smiling, said he'd like the pope to see it. "He seems a good bloke!" |
| • Read what happened at The Canyons' press conference • Full Venice coverage here | • Read what happened at The Canyons' press conference • Full Venice coverage here |
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