Philomena
Short description
Philomena is a drama about an Irish woman who gave birth as a teenager in the early 1950s and was sent to a convent, where the nuns took her son from her and arranged for his adoption by an American family. Decades later, she meets Martin Sixsmith, a journalist who has recently lost his job and is looking for a story. She tells him about her long, unsuccessful search for her child, and he persuades her that the two of them should travel to the United States to try to find out what became of her son, now grown. The film follows their journey together and the relationship that develops between the skeptical reporter and the woman whose story he is pursuing.
Stephen Frears directed the film, working from a screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope. It is the nineteenth of the twenty-three films he has directed in chronological order, coming between Lay the Favorite and The Program. Judi Dench plays Philomena, with Coogan as Martin Sixsmith; Sophie Kennedy Clark appears as the younger Philomena, and the cast also includes Mare Winningham, Barbara Jefford and Ruth McCabe.
Made on a budget of about 12 million dollars, the film took roughly 100 million dollars worldwide, a strong return for a modestly scaled drama. On IMDb it holds a 7.6 rating from around 107,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7.3 from far fewer votes. A critics' rating of 7.8 from 199 reviews places it slightly above the audience scores on both sites.
What's left behind the scenes
- When Philomena and Martin enter Pete Olsson's house, the camera shows a close-up of a photograph of Michael and Tony. At this moment, to the right of the photograph, one can notice a decorative oval metal object with lines from a prayer written in Hebrew. In reality, this is a container for citrus fruits used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles).
- The BMW rental car in Ireland has Irish license plates, but a Northern Ireland road tax certificate can be seen under the windshield.
- The film is based on Martin Sixsmith's novel "The Lost Child of Philomena Lee" (2009).
- The events of the film take place in 2004, however Pete Olsson drives up to the house in a third-generation Mazda MX-5, which only appeared in 2005.
- While visiting the monastery, Martin Sixsmith sees a photograph with the signature of an American actress on the wall and asks if the autograph belongs to Jane Mansfield (he is told it is the autograph of Jane Russell). The character who appears later in the film, Pete Olsson, is played by Peter Hermann. Hermann is married to Jane Mansfield's daughter, Mariska Hargitay.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
