DNA Magazine

PHILOMENA: A Mother, Her Son And A Fifty-Year Search by Martin Sixsmith

-

Stephen Frears’ new film Philomena, co-written by and starring Steve Coogan, won the best screenplay award at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The film is based on a true story and was adapted from the 2009 book The Lost Child Of Philomena Lee by former BBC News journalist Martin Sixsmith. Dame Judi Dench plays Philomena in the film and immense awards buzz already surrounds her performanc­e. As a pregnant teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to a convent to be looked after as a fallen woman. For three years, she cared for her baby until the Church took him from her and sold him, like countless others, to America for adoption. Philomena’s son grew up to be a top Washington lawyer and a leading Republican official in the Reagan and Bush administra­tions. But he was a gay man in a homophobic party where he had to conceal not only his sexuality but, eventually, the fact he had AIDS. With little time left, he returned to Ireland and the convent where he was born. His desperate quest to find his mother before he died left a legacy that unfolds with unexpected consequenc­es for everyone involved.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Australia