Irish Catholic stubbornness is the subject matter of this spiritual drama that has four women from Dublin in need of healing as they head to Lourdes on retreat. Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates are old friends mourning the death of an old friend, the estranged mother of Laura Linney who has returned for the funeral. They aren't exactly thrilled to see her, although Linney's old friend Agnes O'Casey is. The intertwined lives continue to intertwine as the secrets of the past comes out, revealing all sorts of other secrets.
I liked this well enough but there are a few choppy moments that should have been fixed. Bates tells off Linney drunkenly in one scene, immediately followed by another where they're all together, that moment overlooked completely as O'Casey has her big moment which is all about nothing. But there's lots of judgments followed by atoning from everyone so the four women each get a variety of emotions to play.
Smith doesn't get any acerbic lines which she's famous for, but as a backup singer in a talent show where Bates sings, she does provide a very funny visual. She is the initial source of conflict but that soon transfers to Bates, almost unrecognizable and providing a realistic Irish dialect. She reminded me of Smith's "Downton Abbey" sparring partner Penelope Wilton in this.
Brenda Fricker is unseen as the voice of Linney's mother. Had they not had the three famous leading ladies, this might have quickly gone to the BBC and been forgotten, but those names meant a cinema release. The scenes at Lourdes are beautiful although little pieces of dialog there seemed out of place. But for fans of Smith's, this is a must, a mark of 65 years of her on film.
I liked this well enough but there are a few choppy moments that should have been fixed. Bates tells off Linney drunkenly in one scene, immediately followed by another where they're all together, that moment overlooked completely as O'Casey has her big moment which is all about nothing. But there's lots of judgments followed by atoning from everyone so the four women each get a variety of emotions to play.
Smith doesn't get any acerbic lines which she's famous for, but as a backup singer in a talent show where Bates sings, she does provide a very funny visual. She is the initial source of conflict but that soon transfers to Bates, almost unrecognizable and providing a realistic Irish dialect. She reminded me of Smith's "Downton Abbey" sparring partner Penelope Wilton in this.
Brenda Fricker is unseen as the voice of Linney's mother. Had they not had the three famous leading ladies, this might have quickly gone to the BBC and been forgotten, but those names meant a cinema release. The scenes at Lourdes are beautiful although little pieces of dialog there seemed out of place. But for fans of Smith's, this is a must, a mark of 65 years of her on film.