Cast: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Anna Maxwell Martin, Barbara Jefford, Kate Fleetwood, Peter Hermann, Michelle Fairley
Director: Stephen Frears
Rating: *** (out of five)
Plot: This is an emotional story inspired by true events, tinged with both tragedy and comedy, about two very different people who joined forces for a remarkable journey. They sought to uncover the truth behind a heartbreaking story that remained a mystery for half a century.

Philomena Lee (played by Dench) — an Irishwoman in her 70s — became pregnant as a teenager in 1952. Her family abandoned her out of shame and sent her to a convent in Roscrea, where, along with other young girls in the same predicament, she was regarded as “a fallen woman”.

In compensation for the nuns taking them in and looking after them during childbirth, they were made to work in the laundry there and only allowed access to their young children, for an hour a day. When Philomena’s son, Anthony, was only three, he was given up for adoption against her will. Philomena spent the next 50 years trying in vain to establish his whereabouts.

Through a lucky set of circumstances she happened to meet Martin Sixsmith (Coogan), an ex-BBC foreign correspondent and former director of communications for Tony Blair’s government. Out of work, Martin agreed to set out to help her look for her son and at the same time; pursue a story for his comeback in journalism.

Philomena and Martin made an odd couple. She’s a plain speaker and a trusting soul who takes people at face value and keeps her feet planted firmly on the ground. Despite all the injustices she suffered she still retained her religious faith. In contrast, he is sophisticated, highly educated, a man at ease around important people and opulent locations; yet having lost his job in politics and been publicly humiliated, he’s cynical and without religious conviction.

Together they embark on an extraordinary road trip to Ireland and the United States. Along the way, they learn from each other while simultaneously seeing different points of view, and find reasons for laughter and joy in a quest that is often underpinned by sadness.

Best scene: When the pair was aboard a plane heading to Washington, an old acquaintance of Martin showed up from the First Class section and had a brief chat with him before going back to his seat. This may not be the best of scenes, but what Philomena had to say about the rather snooty man struck a chord — “Just because he is sitting in the First Class, that doesn’t make him a First Class person.”  Oh, the scene with “dungarees” also shows how Philomena is not that such a simple person after all.

Reel thoughts: I may be biased, but the Oscar-winning Dench played her character well. Just a few minutes into the movie, I found my eyes already glistening from the sad storyline which was interjected with the character’s flashbacks, glimpses of what the “lost” child had gone through, and of course, the very forlorn-looking old woman whose son had been taken away from her 50 years earlier.

Since both Philomena and Martin come from two different worlds and different generations, their backgrounds and mannerisms are worlds apart. The pairing of a trusting person (Philomena) and a cynic (Martin), like in real life, makes a relationship a more interesting one. And when it’s on a film, it certainly can keep you glued to the screen. In fewer words, they are like the yin and yang.

There are times when you’d think that a certain scene falls too easily into place. Like when both of them thought their search had come to an end after finding out that her son had died eight years earlier. They were waiting at the airport to fly back to England and suddenly Martin was ordered by his editor (Fairley) to stay put, together with the grieving Philomena, in Washington in order to get more details for the human interest story which Martin had earlier promised the editor.

Right before Martin could even say a word to tell the old lady a sudden change of plan, Philomena herself said that she had decided to stay in Washington for a little bit longer to talk to people who knew her son. To borrow Philomena’s own line from the movie script: “I didn’t see that coming, not in a million years, Martin!” But that is being too analytical. I don’t really like to do that.

This is entertainment. Let’s just enjoy the story and the way it is unfolded. In a nutshell, this is the kind of movie I’d love to watch on a lazy weekend afternoon. Laugh a bit, cry a bit. And be thankful that they are people who’d like to share such a human interest story with us. If you want to read more, go find the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, which the real Martin Sixsmith penned.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on February 24, 2014.