Image courtesy of Sony Classics.
Years ago, a scandal arose in a small village on the outskirts of Dublin. And now, following the death of a woman and a local charity talent show, the past is about to resurface.
Except it’s not “now.” Director Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s film, “The Miracle Club,” takes place in the late ‘60s, a setting that seems to accentuate the broiling drama of the working-class Irish women at the film’s core.
Chrissie (Laura Linney) said that she would not return to Ireland until her mother had passed, and now that she’s there, she realizes that everyone has forgotten that wasn’t her decision. When she was just a teenager, she got pregnant, and her mother, her best friend, Eileen (Kathy Bates), and her boyfriend’s mother, Lily (Maggie Smith), turned on her. The result (in a nutshell) was that Chrissie moved to America, and her boyfriend drowned in the sea.
Now, 40 years later, Eileen has a lump on her breast, Lily has one leg that’s longer than the other, and their friend, a young woman named Dolly (Agnes O’Casey), has a mute son. And the three of them are trying to win a trip to Lourdes, France, where rumor has it the Virgin Mary visited and caused a domino effect of miracles throughout the years. Father Dermot (Mark O’Halloran) convinces Chrissie to make the trip for a chance at more emotional healing, and so three generations of women are off on a tangled and complicated journey that brings out every skeleton in their closet. These women go searching for miracles and discover their own miracle of love and reconciliation.
It’s a bit tricky to pin this one down in terms of a review. Was it a good film? Well, it has a good story, though the writing isn’t always great—and good acting, though there are some weak points in the directing that could have strengthened the performances. And funnily enough, the film’s marketing may be a hinderance. Though every promotional site calls the film a comedy (one even describes it as “joyful and hilarious”), “The Miracle Club” could be better described as a story of four women processing their grief and trauma, with some comedy around the edges.
From this reviewer’s perspective, the comedic bits are not, by far, the most compelling parts. For instance, the entire purpose of the husbands in the film is comic relief, as they realize they need to survive for a week without their wives. But the film would not have faltered for a second without their inclusion (my suspicion is that they wanted to add Stephen Rea into the supporting cast). Nor did it greatly need Dolly’s fourth-wheel story arc. Though she is an endearing character and O’Casey is an on-screen delight, it does feel like she is wholly separate from her friends’ tangled web.
That being said, the film has a strange draw to it, and, in just an hour and a half, it will provide some major catharsis to its audience. It’s got good bones and a good cast, and that, really, is all a film needs to stand on its own these days. “The Miracle Club” will play at Midtown Cinema this July.
Midtown Cinema is located at 250 Reily St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.midtowncinema.com.
July Events At Midtown Cinema
Music on the Patio
Every Thursday, 6 to 8 p.m.
Harrisburg Fringe Festival
July 6 to 9
Film Openings
“Miracle Club”
Friday, July 14
“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”
Friday, July 21
“Theatre Camp”
Friday, July 28
Down in Front! Presents
“Grizzly 2: The Revenge!”
Friday, July 14, 9:30 p.m.(ish)
Free Outdoor Films
“Jaws”
Saturday, July 15, sundown
“Cabaret”
Thursday, July 27, sundown
3rd in the Burg Movie Night
“The Last Unicorn” (1982)
Friday, July 21, 9:30 p.m.
National Theatre Live
“Good”
Sunday, July 16, 5 p.m.
“Best of Enemies”
Sunday, July 23, 5 p.m.
“Fleabag”
Sunday, July 30, 7 p.m.
Trivia Night on the Big Screen
Tuesday, July 25, 7 p.m.
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