Vera Drake is about a woman who believed that - in performing backstreet abortions - she was doing the right thing. The simplicity of her life belies the massive significance of what she does, and the drama here is about what happens when the paternalistic society in which she lives finally - inevitably - catches up with her.
This film will probably challenge your morals on abortion, whichever view you take. That's because it is clever and subtle enough to present all sides sympathetically - yet without preaching on behalf of any of them. The full horrors of what is involved in the abortion act itself is not glossed over. Yet there is never any doubt that Vera herself is a fundamentally good woman who spends her whole life doing good works, making sacrifices to look after others.
I found it quite hard to categorise this film. I almost gave it a 5 but I decided it scrapes a 6 on the basis of some fine acting (particularly Imelda Staunton's central performance) and painstakingly-observed 1950s period detail. But somehow there is something lacking. Perhaps in playing it subtle they almost hold back too much. I wanted to like it more. But it's not, in the end, as good as it should be.
This film will probably challenge your morals on abortion, whichever view you take. That's because it is clever and subtle enough to present all sides sympathetically - yet without preaching on behalf of any of them. The full horrors of what is involved in the abortion act itself is not glossed over. Yet there is never any doubt that Vera herself is a fundamentally good woman who spends her whole life doing good works, making sacrifices to look after others.
I found it quite hard to categorise this film. I almost gave it a 5 but I decided it scrapes a 6 on the basis of some fine acting (particularly Imelda Staunton's central performance) and painstakingly-observed 1950s period detail. But somehow there is something lacking. Perhaps in playing it subtle they almost hold back too much. I wanted to like it more. But it's not, in the end, as good as it should be.