Showing: 4 October 2023
- Date of release: 2017
- Running time: 1h 45m
- Director: Richard Eyre
- Writer: Ian McEwan
- Country: USA and UK
- Language: English
- Links: IMDB Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic BBFC Official Film Website
The Children Act Plot Synopsis
Smart, elegant, and deeply moving, The Children Act stars two-time Academy Award-winner Emma Thompson in a riveting performance as Fiona Maye, a British High Court judge who, in the midst of a marital crisis, must rule on a life-changing legal case concerning the survival of a teenage boy. At issue whether to order a blood transfusion on the boy (Dunkirk’s Fionn Whitehead), a Jehovah’s Witness who, just months short of his eighteenth birthday, is refusing on religious grounds the procedure that would save his life. Adapted by Ian McEwan from his own novel, and directed by Richard Eyre (Notes on a Scandal; Iris), The Children Act is a deeply affecting portrait of strength, devotion, and love, with the incomparable Emma Thompson giving one of the very best performances of her career.
Film Reviews
The Children Act is a masterpiece from beginning to end and it should not be missed.
Tiffany Tchobanian, Film Threat
The Children Act is a cerebral piece, for sure, and a disturbing one by the end, but Thompson’s performance brings life to the complex moral questions it attempts to examine.
Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily