Emma Thompson is going to be very busy this awards season. She delivers an extraordinarily brilliant, intensely moving, enchantingly witty, and remarkably vulnerable performance as High Court judge Fiona Maye in The Children Act. She is one of those rare compelling performers that allows an audience to simply enjoy watching her think.
The usually stoic Maye is fittingly referred to as “My Lady” in the courtroom. As My Lady, Maye appears professional, reserved, objective and very well informed. With the help of her devoted and diligent clerk, Nigel (Jason Watkins shines in this poignant supporting role), she tirelessly researches every case because a child’s life is often on the line.
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Adam (Dunkirk’s phenomenal Fionn Whitehead) is two months shy of his eighteenth birthday when he is diagnosed with leukemia and in need of a blood transfusion. As a Jehovah’s Witness, his family believes blood is sacred. Mixing the blood of different people is blasphemy, so Adam refuses treatment. His parents cannot change his mind and the hospital has a duty to save his life. Adam’s fate rests in My Lady’s hands. After hearing about how special Adam is in court, she makes the unconventional decision to visit the boy in person.
Read the full review on Film Threat: http://filmthreat.com/reviews/the-children-act/
