The Children Act has exceptional acting from Emma Thompson and a narrative that refuses to preach

I DUNNO…you stand around waiting for a Jehovah’s Witness film and two come along at once!

The intense Apostasy last month and now the faithful adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel ‘The Children Act’.

Both tread similar ground but from different angles and wearing different shoes.

Fiona May is a High Court judge asked to rule in the case of a 17-year-old boy whose parents are refusing him a life-saving blood transfusion because of their beliefs.

She has has to decide between these beliefs and the medical option that will almost certainly save the life of a teenage minor despite the parents' objections to the blood transfusion.

All this while her marriage to Jack (Stanley Tucci) crumbles before her eyes.

“I think I want to have an affair” says Jack.

The criminally underused Tucci drops that particular bombshell in an attempt to remind his wife she is either out of love with him, or simply sleepwalking through their marriage (they haven’t slept with each other in 11 months).

“Long marriages end up like siblings” is the sucker punch line in this subplot - with Justice May (to give her her professional title) offering “This is a court of law not morals” for the other.

The pressure of all her horrific cases listed out before you give some hint as to the pressures of being the person to make those decisions.

Unfortunately, they’ve clouded her judgement in every aspect of her numb personal life - not least her relationship with young Alex, the 17-year-old boy who’s life she had in her hands (who whilst not played entirely realistically, is given a chillingly manipulative edge by the talented Fion Whitehead, shot fresh from his role on the beaches at Dunkirk).

“He must be protected from his religion” she declares, before wondering if she too may need some protection from him.

Emma Thompson is sublime (as is Jason Watkins as her bumbling Judicial Assistant).

It’s a film that shows, doesn’t tell - and the vast majority comes from the expressive silences from Thompson as we follow her train of thought, manifesting itself in the while of an eyebrow, completely enraptured.

Infatuation is a strange human trait and director Richard Eyre does a brilliant job of delicate framing the ambiguity of the relationship between young boy and older muse.

The question of faith is one that can help people, but as ‘The Children Act’ starkly points out - sometimes people are just happy to watch their kids die because of a book some said was true. [shrug emoji].

Director: Richard Eyre

Cast: Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Fion Whitehead

12A

Rating: ★★★★☆

Release Date: 24/08/2018