The Secret Scripture review - Jim Sheridan's turgid homecoming

★ THE SECRET SCRIPTURE Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave can't rescue a stillborn adaptation of Sebastian Barry's novel

Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave can't rescue a stillborn adaptation of Sebastian Barry's novel

It's the church wot done it! That's the unexceptional takeaway proffered by Jim Sheridan's first Irish film in 20 years, which is to say ever since the director of My Left Foot and The Boxer hit the big time. But despite a starry and often glamorous cast featuring Vanessa Redgrave (in prime form), Rooney Mara, Theo James, and Poldark's Aidan Turner, Sheridan's adaptation of Sebastian Barry's Man Booker-shortlisted novel begins portentously and spirals downwards from there. 

There's limited fun to be had from watching Mara and Redgrave play two generations of the same unfortunate woman, Rose, who has been sequestered away in an asylum for more than a half-century. But Sheridan's script, co-written with Johnny Ferguson, and the thudding overinsistence of the direction soon make a spectator feel scarcely less incarcerated. If you've seen the Judi Dench vehicle Philomena or Peter Mullan's wonderful The Magdalene Sisters, you've been round this block before, and without lines like, "I can't imagine what it would be like to be locked up for 50 years".  Wanna bet?  Vaness Redgrave in `The Secret Scripture' The central question is whether or not young Rose killed her newborn child with a rock, an act of infanticide which Mara denies early on as piano chords come crashing down around her. Her ageing, shining-eyed self hoves into view in the form of a gravely arresting Redgrave (pictured above) who, it turns out, herself plays a mean piano. Alas, it seems that Rose will soon have to find fresh musical environs given that the mental health hospital to which she has been confined is being turned into a spa hotel. (Frankly, I would just ask to stay on.) At which point, cue a strapping psychologist (Eric Bana) on hand to reassess Rose and to peruse the diaries that allow for the parallel structure that ensues. Guess what: he likes Beethoven, too. 

Teho James and Jack Reynor in 'The Secret Scripture'Rose's youth, it seems, consisted of parrying or at least juggling the advances of a motley crew of suitors, played by an array of modern-day celluloid "it boys", among them Theo James and a largely sidelined Aidan Turner. While an implacable Mara suggests a waitress wanting merely to get on with her business, these men have other ideas, though quite how James (pictured right with Jack Reynor) references being "a priest who wants to be a man" while keeping a straight face is an achievement worth pondering. In any case, gossipy, small-town village life bodes ill for the romance that develops between Rose and an RAF pilot, Michael (Reynor), whose arrival sets the cat among the politically riven pigeons. Small wonder that the Book of Job gets an onscreen workout, the so-called "secret scripture" of the title.  

"My memories, my memories, they took my memories," bleats the senior Rose, who drifts in and out of lucidity and sedation and whom Redgrave invests with the singular intensity that has long been her signature. This ageless actress (who turned 80 in January) has for some while been scooping up films like Atonement and Foxcatcher and running with them. Sheridan grants her far more screen time than those two did, but it's a lost cause. As Bana's shrink presses Redgrave's furtive, fretful Rose for details about a life glimpsed in increasingly lurid fragments, you're tempted to wish all involved had abandoned the script and allowed a venerated performer to reflect on the many and happier acting opportunities that surely constitute her memories, and ours.

 Overleaf: watch the trailer for The Secret Scripture 

Call the Midwife: 2016 Christmas Special, BBC One

CALL THE MIDWIFE: 2016 CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, BBC ONE In which our heroines undertake a mercy mission to South Africa

In which our heroines undertake a mercy mission to South Africa

While Miranda Hart's Chummy is no more and Jessica Raine (who played Jenny Lee) has long since departed to perish in Line of Duty and pout crossly in Wolf Hall, Call the Midwife has evolved into a sort of Heartbeat with nuns, featuring antique pop songs and round-the-clock childbirth. In a sign that writer Heidi Thomas may be struggling to squeeze more mileage out of the show's East End locations, this seasonal special headed out for the brilliant skies and rolling veldt of South Africa.

Richard III, Almeida Theatre

RICHARD III, ALMEIDA THEATRE Ralph Fiennes rivets anew as Shakespeare's English psycho of a king

Ralph Fiennes rivets anew as Shakespeare's English psycho of a king

"I can add colours to the chameleon," Richard III remarks of himself early in his anguished, marauding ascent to the throne, and the description could equally apply to the electrifying actor, Ralph Fiennes, who is London's latest hedgehog/dog/toad/bottled spider (pick your animal imagery of choice).

DVD: Foxcatcher

Stand-out performance from Steve Carell in potent Oscar-nominated psychological drama

As he died in 2010, we can never know what John du Pont was like in person, but if Steve Carell’s rendering of the maniacal American multi-millionaire with a wrestling fixation is even close to the real thing, the experience must have been disturbing. Foxcatcher, the story of du Pont’s immersion in wrestling, is disquieting but Carell stands out. Creepiness defines every moment he is on screen.

Foxcatcher

FOXCATCHER Haunting, tense wrestling drama with superb performances from Steve Carell and Channing Tatum

Haunting, tense wrestling drama with superb performances from Steve Carell and Channing Tatum

Steve Carell makes the move from the light comedy of the American workplace to the dark side of that country as delusional blue-blood John Eleuthère du Pont in a transformative and creepy performance that borders on the grotesque.

Foxcatcher is based on a shocking true story set in the wrestling world. Though some of the events occurred in the 1990s and over a longer time period, director Bennett Miller sets his film towards the end of the 1980s. Miller’s previous feature, Moneyball, was also set in the sports world but instead of focusing on the players he chose to look at the maths behind the game. In a similar way he subverts the long arduous road-to-glory sports story by exploring the inner lives of Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler, Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum, pictured below right), his brother and coach, Dave (Mark Ruffalo), and the aforementioned mercurial man who supported their training sessions in the grounds of his grand home in preparation for the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games.

Miller’s precise, cold and detached composition alongside Greig Fraser’s expert cinematography, echo the isolation, paranoia and clinical view of du Pont’s ever-watchful eye and deteriorating mind-set. A sinister atmosphere is established from the outset and the dread is palpable.

steve carrell channing tatum foxcatcherCarell mimics the meticulous pronunciation of a politician delivering a meaningless speech, his pregnant pauses bristling against the nape of your neck like a slithering snake. A particularly memorable scene which sees du Pont offering Schultz cocaine while travelling in his private helicopter is hypnotic. Du Pont gleefully exhales a list of the things he collects, furthering the sense of pride in ownership that has been instilled in him by his mother (the excellent Vanessa Redgrave) and it's terrifying. Miller makes it clear from the start that no good will come from the teaming up of these proud patriots, but here he turns du Pont into something quite monstrous.

If du Pont plays the politician it's Mark Schultz who takes on the role of keen supporter. At first he is put under the spell of great promises, then he engages in amicable relations before finally he begins to notice the cracks in the veneer as the perennial smile fades from the face of his patron. Tatum refuses to play Schultz as a knucklehead. He was, in fact, greatly aided by the real-life wrestler and it shows not only in his stance and mannerisms but the way in which he reaches into the psyche of a professional athlete.

Miller’s powerful and surefooted psychological drama possesses an intensity and haunting elegance which demands you bear witness to chilling and bleak sights.

Overleaf: watch the trailer for Foxcatcher

Call the Midwife: 2014 Christmas Special, BBC One

CALL THE MIDWIFE: 2014 CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, BBC ONE How Jennifer Worth's midwifery memoirs became embedded in the national psyche

How Jennifer Worth's midwifery memoirs became embedded in the national psyche

The Christmas scoop was the first appearance of the authorial voice, Vanessa Redgrave, playing Jennifer Worth, writing Christmas cards, looking at the photographs of herself with her two midwife friends and plunging us into memory from 2005 to 1959. She tells her husband Philip (Ronald Pickup) with tender affection how different it was, but "once a nurse, always a nurse," he responds. Bookending this episode were her words as she and Philip finished Christmas preparations, that if we are lucky we find love, and even its meaning.

LFF 2014: Foxcatcher

LFF 2014: FOXCATCHER Channing Tatum and Steve Carell in a must-see film that wrestles with the mind

Channing Tatum and Steve Carell in a must-see film that wrestles with the mind

There is loud Oscar talk surrounding the stellar performance by Steve Carell in director Bennett Miller’s genuinely unsettling Foxcatcher. Miller (Capote) tackles yet another true crime drama, this time following the steps leading to the murder of David Schultz, an Olympic wrestling champion. Top athletes need patrons and Schultz’s brother Mark (a truly exquisite performance by Channing Tatum) thought he’d found his in John E. du Pont (Carell), the scion of the du Pont chemical fortune.

The Butler

Forest Whitaker headlines a painful, poignant and victorious benchmark movie

As a movie it’s a little too neat and a little too worthy but as a benchmark The Butler is a triumph with a strong cast. Director Lee Daniels doesn’t get arty with this story of racial divide and American unrest. Roughly based on the real-life story of Eugene Allen, Daniels' approach is straightforward and highly emotive. There’s plenty for the crowd here, and, like Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon, the fact that The Butler is accessible across almost every demographic will get its message through to those who need to see it - those who maybe wouldn't see it if it were, say, art house. In some ways, the softer Butler is a filmic preparation for the agony of 12 Years A Slave.

In a tempered, credible performance, Forest Whitaker leads as Cecil Gaines, a southern African-American raised on a cotton plantation run by Thomas Westfall (Alex Pettyfer) and his mother Annabeth Westfall (Vanessa Redgrave). There, Cecil's father (an excellent performance by David Banner) has to watch on as his wife (Mariah Carey) is habitually raped and abused. Cecil eventually runs away and, starving, breaks a window to get to some cake. In a time when white people could kill black people on a whim, Cecil is discovered by a black clerk Maynard (Clarence Williams III) who teaches him the nuances of serving ignorant white people in a time of segregation. Cecil learns to survive amid the life-crushing racism of the era.

When Maynard turns down a job in Washington DC, he puts Cecil up for it. Serving in a posh hotel soon leads to a call from the White House where scary Freddie Fallows (Colman Domingo), a White House maître d’, subjects Cecil to a tough interview.

Robin Williams, James Marsden, Minka Kelly, Liev Schreiber, James DuMont, Nelsan Ellis, Jesse Williams and Colin Walker appear as famous figures from the past, all of whom cross paths with Cecil. Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan and Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan are particularly impressive while John Cusack's impersonation of Richard Nixon may take a few moments to sink in. Once you see the prosthetic nose, however… Other strong performances come from Cecil’s family: Oprah Winfrey as Gloria, his wife, making her first return to the screen in many years, is superb in her comic and dramatic timing. David Oyelowo has a surefooted presence as Louis, the eldest son, and an adorable Elijah Kelly almost steals the show as Charlie, the youngest brother. Cuba Gooding Jr, Lenny Kravitz and Terrence Howard (pictured above right with Winfrey) are excellent as Cecil’s serving White House colleagues. A discovery performance comes from Yaya Alafia, as Louis' revolutionary girlfriend with attitude (and armpit hair).

Based on the article “A Butler Served Well By This Election”, The Butler is a film that needed to be made. A crowd-pleaser that educates and illuminates, it may condense history and glide over the rough patches. But it is not a documentary: its strength lies in the road it paves. Like Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (released early next year), The Butler isn’t a work of art but it is a film that everyone needs to see. Etched with tears and laughs, this is appealing historical entertainment at its most important.

Overleaf: watch the trailer for The Butler

Much Ado About Nothing, Old Vic

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, OLD VIC Transatlantic reworking of Shakespeare's wordy comedy gets lost in translation

A transatlantic reworking of Shakespeare's wordy comedy gets lost in translation

“What, my dear Lady Disdain! Are you yet living?” Surely never before has Benedick’s opening quip cut so close to the literal, nor drawn such a laugh from its audience. With a combined age of 158, the romantic leads in Mark Rylance’s Much Ado About Nothing take the current trend for an older pair of lovers to the extreme. James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave turn Shakespeare’s text on its head.

Song for Marion

Terence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave work the tear ducts in the latest paean to old age

Are films for the senior demographic the new rock’n’roll? As the population ages and people keep their marbles for longer, entertainments for the grey pound, as it’s charmingly called, must be laid on. The job of films like The Last Exotic Marigold Hotel, Quartet and now Song for Marion is to tend towards the cheerful and the redemptive. Age is a bugger, they all accept, but it ain’t over till the fat lady sings – or in the case of Song for Marion, till Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp have given their leathery larynxes a public work-out.

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