Year: 2004
Cast: Imelda Staunton, Phil Davis, Daniel Mays, Alex Kelly, Eddie Marsan, Adrian Scarborough, Heather Craney, Sally Hawkins, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Sharp, Liz White, Peter Wight, Sandra Voe, Martin Savage, Jim Broadbent
Director: Mike Leigh
Nominations: Best Director, Best Actress (Staunton), Best Original Screenplay
I'll be honest; I've been putting off watching this movie. There's simply no way to talk about it without talking about its extremely sensitive subject matter, and I've stated several times that I don't want to turn this blog political, or alienate anyone, no matter whom, from reading it.
There's almost no way to do that while discussing this movie.
This incredibly British movie comes from respected arthouse director Mike Leigh, who's noted for coming up with these low-key but compelling slice-of-life dramas about ordinary folks in some sort of crisis, often simply telling the actors what their characters are going through and hoping for, not telling them what the other actors in a given scene are going to do or say, and letting them act it as naturally as they can, usually ending up with performances that seem less like acting and more like we're watching some kind of documentary. As I understand it, he did the same thing here; not telling any of the main actors aside from Imelda Staunton what the subject of the film was until it was revealed in the scenes, as well as having the actors who played Vera and her family just interacting with each other in character off-script for weeks at a time, so that their family dynamic would feel natural.
And it's about a woman who performs illegal abortions in 1950's London.
Might as well rip that band-aid right off from the get-go, eh?
Vera is a middle-aged domestic who likes to go around her neighborhood and check in with the various people in need there, such as elderly men who need in-home care but can't afford it, lonely chaps who might enjoy a quiet evening tea with a family, people who need groceries but can't go out to get them, etc. She seems almost impossibly saintly, but Staunton doesn't overplay the part or make the character seem like an angelic soul; she's just a woman who sees things that need doing and no one else is doing, and she does them. If I didn't know plenty of women like that, I'd say this was harder to believe.
But one thing Vera does to help people is she performs abortions for young women in trouble. Naturally she doesn't tell anyone about this, as it's the 1950's and not only is what she's doing quite illegal, but also the sort of thing one doesn't talk about.
I'd make a joke about how if Leigh wanted us to feel sympathy for Vera, he went wrong by casting Delores Umbridge, but Ms. Staunton had yet to play Umbridge. In fact, it was probably based on how sweet she could seem in this movie that got her that role.
That said, I'm not sure we're meant to see Vera in an entirely sympathetic light. Oh, make no mistake, we are meant to think of her in a positive light, and it's very easy to see that she's only doing what she does because she wants to help. But the movie is somewhat ambivalent when it comes to how we are supposed to see what she's doing. When the other characters are told about it, what we're seeing are honest reactions from modern actors living in 2004, and in each case it's shock and even some horror. This is particularly the case when she tells her husband (Phil Davis), whispering it in his ear while his face goes from concerned to confused to horrified to finally angry. Her son (Daniel Mays) reacts with utter horror, even saying he can't forgive her, and he's not shown to be some sort of self-righteous hypocrite, either.
I'm skipping ahead; Vera's actions eventually come around to haunt her but not until we've seen her perform several abortions on several women in different states of distress, and this is where I'm wondering whether or not we're really meant to take from this movie the message that she's doing a good and necessary thing.
For starters, there's the fact that her clientele ranges from women who were raped to housewives who simply can't afford any more children, to unmarried women who can't tell their parents what they did to loose women who don't want to face the consequences of their actions. Vera doesn't seem to care why the abortion is requested; she'll just do it. Only once is adoption brought up, and it's by a male psychiatrist speaking to a woman who was raped. Why Vera doesn't suggest this to the overburdened housewife or the loose woman is beyond me.
Then there's her method. Vera's abortion method involved a Higginson bulb syringe with which she pumps water with carbolic soap and a disinfectant into the mother's womb. Even at the time this movie was made, this method was known to be almost 100% fatal to the mother and extremely painful whether or not the mother died. Vera may or may not know that herself, but she treats it as though it will be a slight pain that will go away as soon as the uterus gets rid of everything in it. She claims she's done it numerous times over the course of several years without incident, even though in this film one of her patients nearly dies from the procedure, which is what lands Vera in court. There have been a number of complaints against this portrayal of the procedure, as if it's rare for a woman to have issues with it when in fact most did, but it also really brings home the fact that, regardless of intent, method or anything else, Vera is still performing a potentially very dangerous medical procedure without any formal medical training.
I need to point something out, because regardless of what side you fall on in this debate, there's a simple fact that not many people seem to know, and that is that back when abortions were performed illegally, they were 99% of the time still performed by licensed medical professionals in clean, up-to-code clinics. They were called "back alley" abortions because the doctors let the women into their facilities through the back entrance after hours. The sort of abortions Vera Drake performs in this film were not common, and the women who died from abortions usually were the ones who sought out women like Vera.
Finally, what made Vera seem less than entirely sympathetic were a few scenes where, seemingly, Vera herself isn't sure that she's really doing the right thing. In a scene midway through the film, Vera is shown almost hurrying from the apartment of one scared young woman who wants her to stay until it's done. Vera almost can't wait to leave. Then there's her euphemisms, used in a way that shows Vera's rehearsed what she's going to call it; instead of "when your body miscarries and your fetus is flushed out", she says "when it all comes away", and instead of "I help young women terminate their pregnancies", she says "I help young girls out", and when confronted with the word "abortion", she tearfully says "that's not what I call it". To me, it felt like Vera wasn't entirely at ease with what she was doing, and was mainly involved in it because, as the movie strongly hints without coming out and saying it, someone did the same for her when she was a teen.
There's also a subplot involving the woman who meets with and sets up Vera's clientele (Ruth Sheen). She charges them for the procedure (significantly less than what a woman would pay in one of those "back-alley clinics", but still hefty fees) without telling Vera, making herself a tidy profit. This, too, adds to the feeling of the movie showing both sides of the issue. Vera may only want to help, but in the process, she's enabled a woman's greed and hurt her clients financially as well as perhaps physically.
Staunton, a little-known actress at the time (she's still primarily known for playing Umbridge), carries all these scenes off in a natural, realistic way that helps us stay anchored in the character regardless of how we feel about her actions. As I said, the film never really seems to be judging her either way. A pro-choice person watching this might feel outrage at the way the justice system treats a woman who's just trying to help where no one else would, while a pro-lifer might see a misguided woman who might mean well but who still undertook dangerous medical procedures on women without a license, giving them bad follow-up advice, and perhaps even feeling like maybe it was the wrong thing all the while.
In summary, Staunton is a very talented actress who gave this role the appropriate gravitas and heart, and managed to leave us conflicted even if we still feel that Vera's motives were entirely pure. So, for that, her nomination was earned, but as for whether or not she's a winner, we'll see in the next post.
Mike Leigh received nods for directing and writing the screenplay, and that screenplay nomination, similar to the one he got for Secrets and Lies, always makes me smile since I know that the "screenplay" consisted of writing out a character's motivations and actions and then letting the actors take it from there. I suppose that's a pretty novel and inventive way of doing it, so I won't fault the nomination. I can understand the director nomination even more so, as it takes a great deal of directorial talent to essentially film people not really acting, moving and speaking in unpredictable ways, and manage to frame it perfectly.
No comments:
Post a Comment