THE CHILDREN ACT

UK, 2018, 104 minutes, Colour.
Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Ben Chaplin, Fion Whitehead, Jason Watkins, Nikki Amuka- Bird, Rosie Cavaliero, Anthony Calf.
Directed by Richard Eyre.



Emma Thompson plays Fiona Maye, a London judge who administers the Children Act, presiding over court cases with such issues as the separation of Siamese twins, child custody, the decision about a minor who belongs to the Jehovah Witnesses receiving a blood transfusion to save his life.

This is fine British film making.

Emma Thompson has frequently shown a flair for comedy, portraying, for instance, Nanny Mc Phee. However, she won her Oscar for her performance as Margaret Schlegel, a serious character, in the adaptation of E.M. Forster’s Howard’s End. Her portrayal of Fiona Maye is Emma Thompson at her very serious best.

Non-British? audiences may be immediately struck by the quaintness of how Judge Maye is addressed in court. We take for granted “My Lord� but it is something of a shock to hear a judge frequently addressed as “Milady�. In court, Milady is well briefed, dismisses superfluous speeches by prosecutors or defence lawyers, is brisk in her moving through the evidence and explaining her judgements. She is well respected.

Because the drama is so well-written, there is no trouble in seeing Fiona Maye as a thinking person. She is clear, reasonable, principled and logical.

However, the drama in this film extends to the judge’s home life. She has been married for several decades to Jack, an academic (Stanley Tucci) but has failed to recognise that her almost complete commitment to her work, bringing it home to prepare briefs, working into the late hours of the night, has stranded her husband emotionally. Jack shocks Fiona by suggesting that he have an affair. She is so disturbed, her emotions unable to help her to a response, that she goes into silence, refusal to discuss the situation.

The point is made that the judge is so comfortable in her thinking, reinforced by her dedicated work ethic, not only has she neglected her feelings, she seems to be quite unaware of them.

However, this home crisis does affect her in an important case concerning the blood transfusion. A 17-year-old, Adam (Fionn Whitehead) has terminal leukaemia. His parents are strict Jehovah Witnesses – and the film shows some flashbacks to Witness meetings, scriptural grounds for the ban on blood transfusions, seen as a contamination of life which is found in the blood. A preacher is very strict, quoting Genesis, Leviticus, Acts, to indicate that God has prohibited transfusions.

Audiences will be familiar with these biblical stances and will have formed opinions on the validity well before coming into the cinema. In court, hospital representatives make a case for the transfusion. The father, played by Ben Chaplin, a reformed alcoholic who has found some salvation for himself and his wife in the community of the Witnesses, takes a stand against the transfusion.

In what seems a sudden departure from her well-organised research and decision-making, the judge decides to visit Adam in hospital. She has no children herself. Perhaps it is the shock of her husband’s declaration that has touched her innermost feelings and urges her not only to talk with the boy, discuss the issues, his religious beliefs, but talk to him about a guitar, listening to him sing song based on a poem by Yeats. Then, briskly, she is back to court, delivering her verdict, basing it on the law in the best interests of the child, that Adam have the transfusion (which is actually visualised for the audience).

What triggers the judge’s impulse to go to the hospital? We can see an assertion of feeling in her dealings with Adam. She does not. But it begins to surface.

The consequences of her husband’s declaration and her visit to Adam emerge gradually (and reluctantly) as well as deeper repercussions in her emotional life, a life which she has relegated to the peripheries of her work and her marriage.

The strength of this unconscious/conscious assertion of feeling is dramatized powerfully in its effect on Adam, quite profound, his emotional response to her visit, the singing, the poetry of Yeats, his finding in her a potential mother-figure – and his emotional demands on her, personally, and her need for a professional response.

The drama provides the judge with an emotional confrontation with Adam, her awareness of professional behaviour and the subjective demands on her from Adam – leading to uncharacteristic behaviour, losing her control at a party and hurrying to Adam’s hospital bedside again. But this is the catalyst for her being able to speak to Jack, to acknowledge the distance between them, to reconcile with mutual understanding.

The film is based on a novel by Ian Mc Ewan (Atonement, On Chesil Beach). The novelist himself has written the screenplay.

For an audience which likes serious drama, well-written, and intelligently articulate use of language, a probing of the relationship between mind and heart, and fine performances, The Children Act is well recommended.

1. The title, the law, courts, cases, judgements, administration? Objectivity versus personal?

2. The London settings, homes, the courts, hospitals? Newcastle and the hotel? The musical score? The songs for Yeats’ poems?

3. The focus on Fiona Maye, her role as a judge, the title, being called Milady in court? Her role in the Childrens’ Court, authority, experience, the court sequences?

4. Nigel, his assistance? Attention to detail, loyalty?

5. The judge’s personal story, her marriage to Jack, the long marriage, her devotion to her work, the distance between the couple? His telling her that he wanted to have an affair?

6. The central issue of blood transfusions, responsibilities and decisions, the parents, the son under 18, the legal aspects, the moral aspects? The beliefs of the Jehovah Witnesses?

7. The portrait of Fiona as a judge, the complete objectivity in the court, brisk in manner, doing her homework, answering with clarity, having information at hand, her manner, moving cases along? The respect given?

8. Fiona as a woman, the long marriage, her being so busy, her love for Jack, yet neglecting him, the sexual neglect, her expressing little emotional warmth? The flashbacks to when they first met, happy couple, the gift of the piano? Her not realising the coldness between them? Jack asking her about the affair, her knowing the girl, her reaction, closing down, refusing to talk with Jack? Yet emotionally quite upset? The phone call, spilling things on the table in the office? Ousting him? His return after two days and her reaction?

9. The case of the twins, the parents in court, the clarifications, one child to live, the other to die, for the two to die? The decision about the children? The reaction of the media? Hostility, the headlines? And having to cope, leave by the back door?

10. The subsequent cases, presented briefly? Her clarity, her being demanding?

11. Adam, his parents and their being Jehovah Witnesses, the flashbacks to the meetings, the encouragement, the preacher, the talk about blood and life in the blood, the forbidding of transfusions? The father and his drinking problem, conversion? The community support? The issues of contamination, the quotes from Genesis and other texts? God forbidding transfusions? The parents emotional, in court, the touch of the stoic? Adam, his age, in hospital, the leukemia, the dangers? His not being able to give personal consent? The clarity of the testimony given by the doctor in court? The other members of the hospital staff?

12. Fiona her decision to visit Adam in hospital, her motivations? The emotion? The issue of her not having any children? Talking with him, efficiency, the members of the staff, her being clear, Adam and his beliefs, her urging him to life, the discussions about the guitar, his grandfather’s gift, his playing, her singing the Yeat’s song? The effect on him? The effect on her, the negative reactions of the staff watching? Her brisk summary and leaving?

13. In court, the decision, for the good of the child? The visuals of the blood transfusion?

14. Adam, recovering, following the owner, explaining his reasons, his questions to her, her professional response? His giving her the poems and documents? Her telling him not to see her again?

15. Her going north, Nigel and the arrangements, on the train, reading and documents? Adam’s arrival, the hotel, his appeal, his questions, enthusiasm, his love for Fiona, wanting to be with Fiona and Jack? Her ordering him to go, the taxi? His kissing her on the lips?

16. The return, her silence as regards Jack, the preparing for the party, going out, the playing the piano, Michael and the practice for his song, the performance, her suddenly singing Yeats’ poem, emotional collapse, leaving? Visiting Adam in hospital, his saying death was his choice, his death? The effect on her?

17. Returning home, wet, explaining the situation to Jack, the future between them? The visit to the cemetery? And their walking away together?