Elevator Pitch
A family court judge with a heavy workload is faced difficulties in her marriage to an academic who is frustrated by her lack of interest in their relationship. One of the cases on which she must rule is that of a 17 year old boy with leukemia who is refusing a blood transfusion because he and his parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses. After visiting his bedside she rules in favour of the hospital which wishes to carry out the procedure, but that is not the end of the matter.
Content
The judge spends time in court judging, she argues just a bit with her husband who leaves her briefly, she goes on the Northern circuit and we are treated to the arcane formality of the British legal system (familiar to those of us who used to watch Judge John Deed on TV), she interacts variously with the young leukaemia sufferer and sings a bit.
| A View | Emma Thompson is universally praised for her interpretation of the part. She did her best, but before I knew how the screenplay had been written I thought that it sounded like dialogue from a book badly presented on screen. The result is at best ponderous and at worst laughable. The critics were divided about it, and I would not recommend it, despite its pedigree. | ||
| Duration | 1h 45m | Rating (UK) | 12A |
| Source of story | A book of the same name by Ian McEwan | ||
| Director | Richard Eyre | ||
| Writers/Script | Ian McEwan | ||
| Starring | Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Ben Chaplin, Fionn Whitehead, Jason Watkins, Nikki Amuka-Bird (And a supporting cast of well known British TV actors) | ||
| Additional Info | The judge goes to work every day, walking through Gray’s Inn, the area in which the chambers of the most important London legal professionals can be found. | ||
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