A disgraced journalist, who once worked as a representative of the BBC in Moscow, suffers failure after failure and gradually becomes a laughing stock among all of his friends and colleagues. He fell into despair and he suffers from severe depression. It seems as if there is no way back to the top until one day, completely at random, someone gives him an idea of writing a story about a living person, the story of human interest. Previously he was opposed to expose details of the personal lives of others to the public, but now, out of desperation, he agrees. What happens next was a complete abruptness for everyone and for him firstly. He gets acquainted with Philomena, whose history touches him so profoundly, he not only writes it down to the tiniest detail, but follows her on the search for her son, who she has not seen in fifty years, since the day he was born.
There is a particular reason why the movies with the mark “based on a true story” occupy some special place in the cinematograph. No matter how amazingly talented, witty, and intelligent is the director, no matter what is the scale of literary talent of the screenwriter, and no matter whether the actors are able to conquer the viewers around the world with their sincerity and charisma, movies, based on actual events, possess a kind of special charm, incomparable to any of all the fictional stories. Perhaps the fascinating attraction of many of these films is explained by the fact that they are similar to our life situations. Others are probably shocked with the realization that this story actually happened with someone in real life.
Philomena fascinates because it is real. Every feeling, every word, every thought, and every gaze – it seems as if it is happening right around us, and we are taking a direct part in the lives of the main characters. Stephen Frears, a born genius of cinematic drama and a winner of two awards at Berlin festival, presents to the world another masterpiece with Judi Dench, after the great success of The Queen. Touching, tender, and poignant, Philomena is a story that actually happened with some ordinary people and can easily happen again with any of us. The details of the drama have not yet been disclosed to a wide audience. However, some key moments of the story line could be seen in the Philomena trailer.
A wonderful duo of Judi Dench and Steve Coogan on the screen constitutes a unique harmony, making an already thin and delicate film even more affecting. Obviously, this subtlety has been fully appreciated by the greatest connoisseurs of cinematographic art – after the premiere of the Philomena at the Venice festival this year, the audience stood up and applauded to the masterpiece and its creators on their feet. If even the professional met the movie this way, we can only wait for November 1 with bated breath and prepare for something most extraordinarily beautiful.
