Director:
Stephen Frears
Cast:
Judi Dench
Steve Coogan
Sophie Kennedy Clark
Rated: PG-13
“Philomena” was inspired by a true story of a woman who went on quite a journey to find her son that she was forced to give up for adoption at a young age. Judi Dench stars as the title character in the film, however, the movie opens with exposition of another character named Martin (Coogan). Martin is a journalist whose main focus is on the world of politics. When he is fired from his position, though, he decides to write a human interest story on Philomena and because of this the two go on a journey to find out what became of her son.
As the story goes along Philomena’s past is brought up of how she was forced to live in a convent after giving up her son for adoption. The film also shows both Martin and Philomena traveling to the United States to discover more about her son.
Matthew Liedke on Film 