Main Cast: Maggie Smith, Bob Hoskins, Wendy Hiller, Marie Kean, Ian McNeice
Release Year: 1987
Country: UK
Run Time: 116 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Judith Hearne (Maggie Smith) is a middle-aged "maiden lady" piano teacher living in 1950s Dublin. Timid and self-deprecating, Judith permits herself to yearn over her new boarding-house neighbor, hotel entrepreneur Bob Hoskins. Hoskins thinks that Judith has enough money to bankroll his latest scheme, so he decides to return her affections. Judith, blind to Hoskin's duplicity, convinces herself that she's finally found true love. The shattering of her illusions drives Judith to drink--and, unexpectedly, to a more fulfilling new life. Based on the novel by Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is typical of the "muted emotion" ouevre of director Jack Clayton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Largely unknown in the United States, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne contains what is arguably Maggie Smith's finest film performance. When playing eccentric characters, Smith is sometimes accused of being mannered, but there is nothing phony or artificial in this unsparing portrayal of a forlorn, quietly desperate spinster. Judith Hearne has never lived her own life and has kept her innermost desires and secrets bottled up, both metaphorically and literally, as Hearne is a drinker. Smith clearly understands the deep, intense, and painful passion that lies beneath the piano teacher's placid exterior. She also is aware of her character's social ineptitude, as well as her vanity and foolishness, and is not afraid to let the audience see her flaws. It's a searing performance, one that is so deeply felt as to be excruciatingly painful for the audience; the viewer feels both pity and embarrassment for her, and feels them deeply. Smith uses every resource at her command, from the catch in her voice to the cast of an eye to the measured reach for a bottle to create a character of remarkable vividness. Bob Hoskins is also excellent, although the story and the manner in which the role is framed do not give him the same range of opportunities as Smith. The movie has its problems -- it dawdles occasionally, the troubles borne by Hearne at times amount to overkill, and Smith's performance is so real that it is sometimes difficult to keep watching the screen -- but overall it's a fine, small film with a towering central performance. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Alan Devlin - Father Quigley; Prunella Scales - Moira O'Neill; Rudi Davies - Mary; Aine Ni Mhuiri - Edie Marinan; Sheila Reid - Miss Friel; Paul Boyle - Taxi Driver; Niall Buggy - Mr. Lenehan; Peter Gilmore - Kevin O'Neill; Paddy Joyce - Drunk in Pub; Veronica Quilligan - Mrs. Mullen; Richard Taylor - Tin Whistle Player; Kate Binchy - Sister Ignatius; Isolde Cazelet - Old Woman; Catherine Cusack - Una O'Neill; Frank Egerton - Major; Kevin Flood - Owen O'Neill; Sue Hampson - Cellist at Aunt D'Arcy's; Marjorie Hogan - Old Woman; James Holland - Shaun O'Neill; Emma Jane Lavin - Young Judith; Leonard McGuire - Dr. Bowe; Aiden Murphy - Youth at Liquor Store; Anna Murphy - Girl Giggler; Seamus Newham - Taxi Driver; Gerard O'Hagan - Waiter; Alan Radcliffe - Young Priest; Martina Stanley - Sister Mary Paul; Dick Sullivan - Priest; Mike Rennie - Violinist at Aunt D'Arcy's
Credit
Henry Harris - Art Director, Irene Lamb - Casting, Richard Johnson - Co-producer, Peter Nelson - Co-producer, Elizabeth Waller - Costume Designer, Gary White - First Assistant Director, Jack Clayton - Director, Terry Rawlings - Editor, George Harrison - Executive Producer, Denis O'Brien - Executive Producer, Georges Delerue - Composer (Music Score), Mark Fisher - Songwriter, Joe Goodwin - Songwriter, Larry Shay - Songwriter, Kevin Lintott - Makeup, Michael Pickwoad - Production Designer, Peter Hannan - Cinematographer, George Harrison - Producer, Denis O'Brien - Producer, Josie MacAvin - Set Designer, Alistair Crocker - Sound/Sound Designer, Peter Nelson - Screenwriter, Brian Moore - Book Author
Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, The (1955), a Belfast novel by Brian Moore, exploring the mental anguish of an ageing spinster living on a small annuity after the death of the aunt who exploited her as a housekeeper, and who is now living in a boarding-house along with several other Catholics.
The novel had been written when Moore had left Ireland, partly because of the religious stranglehold on the country, and was living in Canada. The book was published in 1955 and began to be optioned for the stage and screen almost immediately. John Huston optioned it, intending to film it with Katherine Hepburn; Irvin Kershner planned on Deborah Kerr. When finally somebody had the rights and the financing at the same time, Jack Clayton, a Catholic himself, was chosen to direct. "Clayton is a felicitous choice to direct a character study movie about a woman's rage against the Church for her wasted life. His first feature was Room at the Top, with Simone Signoret, and he made The Innocents, with Deborah Kerr, and The Pumpkin Eater, with Anne Bancroft - he knows how to show women's temperatures and their mind-body inter-actions. Maggie Smith becomes the essence of spinster - she makes you feel the ghastliness of knowing you're a figure of fun."[1]
