Philomena: CALL Discussion Notes

Philomena 

Directed by Stephen Frears

The film is based on a true story and the book about it. Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) is a former British journalist who has been scapegoated in a scandal in the Tony Blair government, for whom he was a spin doctor. At loose ends, he thinks of retreating into Russian history until he becomes engaged in an elderly Irish woman’s personal history. Philomena Lee (Judi Dench) has after a 50-year silence told her daughter that as a girl she bore an illegitimate son, whom the convent forced her to give up for adoption. She now wants to find him. As he condescendingly tracks down this “human interest” story Sixsmith discovers that the convent itself burned its records in a bonfire, that it used to sell its children to American adopters at $1,000 a head, and that while the convent and British adoption agencies won’t/can’t help her, American agencies can. On his publisher’s shilling Martin and Philomena go to Washington where Martin discovers her son Anthony lived under a new name, that he became a prominent counsel in both the Reagan and Bush administrations, and that he dies of AIDS. They interview Anthony’s adoptive sister Mary (Mare Winningham) and eventually overcome the resistance of Anthony’s lover Pete (Peter Hermann). Pete tells them he took the stricken Anthony back to Ireland and the convent hoping to find his mother but the Church prevented the reunion. Pete honoured Anthony’s deathbed request and had him buried on the convent grounds.

Questions:

1. The film opens on Martin’s medical examination, where he is found physically sound but depressed. How does the ensuing plot diagnose and treat his mental, emotional or spiritual state? How is Philomena’s quest also his?

2. How does the doctor compare/contrast to the priests?

3. What’s the point of Martin’s “I’ve been running”?

4. The fact that the woman’s name actually is Philomena doesn’t preclude its thematic reading. What does the name connote? (Hint: ‘philo’ means love, not just a mis-spelled flaky pastry shell.) There’s also the potential of “mean.” And what is her antithesis, Sister Hildy, on "guard" against?

5. What does the film say about the Catholic church? Don’t ignore the kindness of Sister Annunciata (the sympathetic photographer). Does Philomena’s faith or Martin’s doubt provide the better life support?

6. In the confessional scene how does the priest’s “God will forgive you” reflect on the convent?

7. Why does Philomena flee that scene?

8. Compare what we see of Philomena’s current family with what we see of Martin’s. How do we read the difference?

9. Why does sister Mary look so much like the aged Sister Hildegarde? Thin lips, anemic complexion, bitterness, anger — in context, what does that tell us?

10. As old Hildegarde, Barbara Jefford delivers a harsh explanation for the church’s cruelty towards its young mothers and their children. Jefford’s first great screen monologue was Molly Bloom’s famous Yes monologue in Joseph Strick’s film of 11. Joyce’s Ulysses (1967). What is the thematic effect of that echo in the casting?

12. Why is our last view of the convent grounds a shot of evergreens covered in frost/snow?

13. In their confrontation scene how is old Hildegarde a reflection of Martin and/or a contrast to Philomena? How does the sputtering priest there contrast to the priest in the confessional scene?

14. How does Frears treat the changes in the convent — the modern manager in mufti, (Sister Claire), the black woman, the new apparent openness?

15. What’s the point in Martin’s changing perspective on Philomena? Consider his disdain for her literary tastes, for example.

16. In Martin we see a political issue turn into a personal one. How does the personal story turn into different political issues for (i) Philomena, and (ii) Anthony?

13. Why are Martin and Philomena so often at odds, e.g., whether to stay in the US, whether to publish or not, whether to badger/quit Peter?

14. How does Martin’s “Evil is good” work to reflect his differences from Philomena? His relation to Hildegarde? The relationship between politics/journalism and the church?

15. Are there any thematic possibilities in the doctor’s “Your stool is outstanding”?

16. Why would someone (e.g., I) say Martin “retreated” into Russian history?

17. Why do they fly business class and stay in a fancy hotel buffet breakfast included?

18. What’s the point of the duo’s visit to the Lincoln memorial?
19. Why does Martin fumble over Janes Russell and Mansfield and "both their really big ones" in his scene with Sister Clare? 

20. The faithful Philomena waits for a sign. The skeptic Martin finds one: the Celtic harp on the Guinness glass and on Anthony’s lapel. So? Does this argue for the religious or the secular?

21. In the slavery in the convent's laundry, how does the rigorous cleanliness end up expressing the sordid? Again, a fact can be a metaphor.