Herself

 Seen at the Academy Gold Cinema, Christchurch

Cecil going solo again - all this week in fact.

Cecil says: Watching ‘Herself’ in a Christchurch cinema surrounded by people I don’t know and with Bea thousands of miles away, I suddenly found myself thinking of Bruno Ganz in ‘Wings of Desire’ (Himmel über Berlin). I felt like I was watching over both the action on the screen in front of me, taking place in Dublin, with a young single mother who has escaped from domestic violence, and over the people in the audience around me: all locals so in on the tradition in this cinema to have an ice cream as you watch the movie (I think I was the only one not licking a cone among the 30 or so watching with me). And, as usual, I was the very last to leave the room, having seen all the credits, putting the film to bed somehow but learning more about the main writer, actor and producer, Claire Dunne, and getting a nice list of the music that made the soundtrack.

But, like Bruno Ganz the angel looking down over Berlin, I did get involved in the film. Dunne has created a scarily believable scenario and a very empathetic character in Sandra, who struggles with flashbacks, traumatised kids and social services.

The film is definitely not all doom and gloom, though. There’s a message in there on the kindness of strangers (something of which we must all at some point in our lives have had a taste), of community working together to achieve things, and above all of resilience and perseverance.

The girls playing Sandra’s daughters do a fantastic job. How much do you need to coach a 3-4-5 year old girl in the traumas their characters have gone through to get them to act so accurately? Or do you just get them to imagine something like your most precious toy being thrown away or broken by someone you don’t like?

The other actors are peripheral really, and most of their faces unfamiliar to me, though I did recognise Harriet Walter playing the doctor who is so generous to the needy Sandra, and she played her part well, too.

I did wonder what Bea would have made of the plaintive ballad sung by Sandra towards the end. Bea tells a good tale of her friend and her backpacking days in Ireland and almost groaning at yet another pub with a local getting up to sing their favourite heart-rending song. So, strangely enough again, I became Bruno Ganz the angel at that point in the film, and was thinking of Bea instead of getting inside the heart and soul of Sandra.

Overall, I do recommend Herself. It’s not a cheery light-hearted flick; it’s more gritty with a serving of humour and hope. And I look forward to what Claire Dunne has up her sleeve next, both acting and writing.

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