The Miracle Club – Film Review

Director – Thaddeus O’Sullivan
Writers – Joshua D. Maurer, Timothy Prager, Jimmy Smallhorne
Stars – Laura Linney, Kathy Bates, Maggie Smith

The film starts with a panoramic view of Dublin. It is 1967. Death and the rituals surrounding it are very much in evidence as it focuses on an elderly lady Lily Fox (Maggie Smith). She places a small bunch of flowers tied with string in front of a memorial set into a wall by the sea. It is a memorial to her only son who drowned in 1927. It then moves to a coffin, on which is a large floral tribute, in an empty church. It is the coffin of her good friend Maureen Ahearne. The enigma of the empty church is explained by the fact that the parish had long ago organised a talent competition for that very evening. Maureen had been instrumental in organising it. She would have liked it to go ahead and go ahead it is under the organisational skills of the parish priest Father Dermot Byrne (Mark O’Halloran). The first prize is a ticket for two to Lourdes.

Lily and her friend Eileen Dunne (Kathy Bates) have entered the competition as a singing trio, the Miracles, with their much younger friend Dolly Hennessy (Agnes O’Casey) and what a trio they make. Each of them has a reason to go to Lourdes for a miracle. Dolly in particular, as she has a seven-year-old son Daniel (Eric D. Smith) who cannot or will not speak. By twists and turns, although they do not win the competition, they acquire the necessary tickets. However, they are joined by Maureen’s daughter Chrissie (Laura Linney), a most unwelcome presence, who has returned after a long absence from Boston for her mother’s funeral. These four women and Daniel sally forth by coach and boat to Lourdes where the past comes back to haunt the women.

The costumes are splendid throughout and the rigouts the Miracles wear for their song are memorable as is Smith as a backing vocalist. The cinematography throughout is impressive. It contrasts the spaciousness and grandeur of the church buildings with the cramped terraced housing of Lily and her friends. Their houses are replete with a great deal of clutter which includes for instance a brief glimpse of a child of Prague. Amidst the muddle are the men folk Frank Dunne (Stephen Rea), Tommy Fox (Niall Buggy) and George Hennessy (Mark McKenna) each of whom is unhappy by the idea of the wives leaving them for even a short time. Each is domestically less than competent. Each is shown as dependent on their wives.

While less well-known parts of Dublin are portrayed with an assured eye the facial awe of these pilgrims as they arrive in Lourdes is lovingly portrayed. This is achieved by the reflection of the basilica and its surrounding buildings in the windows of the coach as the women peer out at the grandeur of it all. It is a great moment.

With a cast of this calibre, the acting is needless to say first-rate. The ease with which they can deliver comic one-liners which show displeasure, joy or love is one of its delights. Linney as the returned Bostonian conquers the awkward space which is that of a returned emigrant. O’Casey in this exalted company more than holds her own as a young mother with a problem child. Bates is the ebullient mother of many kids who has little time to worry about her own problems but she has her problems and no time to discuss them. Lily (Smith) is an imposing and humane woman who knows how to bear a grudge. Smith’s Lily is a Dublin woman you would like to know. O’Halloran’s priest encapsulates brilliantly “Father Trendy” who was starting to emerge following the Second Vatican Council.

The script by Jimmy Smallhorne, Timothy Prager and Joshua D. Maurer encapsulates the ambience of Dublin before the power of Mother Church was broken. These four women show that beneath the apparent ritualistic compliance with its diktats, these faithful women were beginning to question its omniscience.

O’Sullivan was a young Dubliner in 1967 having been brought up in the city. With these four women, he brings to life a more knowing group of faithful women. It is a loving portrait which does not hide some of the cruelty which Ireland was choosing to ignore. Their spirit and fortitude were the foundation stones for their more boisterous sisters who four years later with the Contraceptive Train openly confronted official Ireland. This is a film which celebrates the toughness and the comic resilience of these brave women as they deal with the slings and arrows of life. Enjoy the comedy of it all as they lead the way to a very different Ireland.