Terminal disease melodrama gives way to battle for equality
POINTS: 5
Freeheld stars Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Michael Shannon, and Steve Carell in a story based on true events: the lead character is diagnosed with a terminal disease and embarks on a legal battle in order to have justice prevail. It’s directed by Peter Sollet, a largely unknown director with only two previous films, Raising Victor Vargas (2002) being the only one worth mentioning. And it’s scripted by Ron Nyswaner, mostly a television screenwriter with just a few films under his belt, Philadelphia (1993) being the main achievement.
As for Freeheld, let’s say it’s nothing much to write home about. It concerns New Jersey police lieutenant Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore), who’s dying from terminal lung cancer and so wants to make sure that her pension benefits are granted to her same-sex partner, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page), who’s almost 30 years younger and works as a car mechanic.
However, under New Jersey’s Domestic Partnership Law, this request cannot be granted to state employees, so Laurel’s appeal is set aside by the decision of five state freeholders. In the meantime, she gets sicker and sicker while Stacie does her best to manage her harsh treatments. Amid so much despair, they are aided by Laurel’s longtime detective partner Dane Wells (Michael Shannon), who tries to help advance the case by appearing at every single town hall meeting with the freeholders. In addition, there’s Steven Goldstein (Steve Carell), a colourful, Jewish gay rights activist and the chairman for Garden State Equality.
As it’s easy to see, it’s not the raw material that’s devoid of interest or singularity — on the contrary. But as is always the case, what matters is how this material is shaped into a film, and in turn how such a film is narrated. And this is where Freeheld fails by many accounts.
All the scenes set at the town hall are pretty awful. Too often, the tone switches from fine drama to facile melodrama while ideas are spelled out to viewers as though they were dimwits. No subtext is to be found anywhere, characters come across as either victims or victimizers, and a sentimental edge makes it all the more unrealistic. You have your usual scenes where central characters stand up and address both their contenders and viewers with agitated speeches in favour of their cause. Which are justified and right by all means, ideologically speaking. But Nyswaner turns these scenes into soap opera stuff.
Then, there’s the predictably annoying yet effective gay activist played all over the top by Carell. In fact, in terms of acting, he seems to belong to another movie — if there’s one thing to commend Freeheld for, it’s the performances of Moore (impeccable), Page (very convincing) and Shannon (pretty decent). When these three actors interact in some of the less spectacular scenes, the film acquires a ring of authenticity. I guess one can also be thankful for the omission of many scenes related to Laurel’s decline and suffering.
So don’t expect anything in the vein of, say, Gus Van Sant’s Milk. It’s true that Freeholder could’ve been worse — for instance, one redeeming quality is the straightforward way in which Laurel and Stacie domestic relationship is portrayed — but still, it looks and sound as your average (and often below average) cable movie of the week where the terminally-ill fight for their rights against all odds. This material certainly deserved a better treatment. If it weren’t because of the actors, Freeheld would be of very little significance.
production notes
Freeheld (US, 2015) Director: Peter Sollet. Screenwriter: Ron Nyswaner, based on the documentary short by Cynthia Wade. With Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Michael Shannon, Steve Carell. Director of photography: Maryse Alberti. Editor: Andrew Mondshein. Running time: 103 min.
