Director: Peter Sollett
Starring: Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Steve Carrell, Luke Grimes, Michael Shannon
Release Date: In Irish Cinemas from February 19th 2016.
Freeheld has all the tell-tale signs of a film directed under someone removed from their subject matter. With the social change seen in 2015 for LGBTQ+ people, the archetypal gay characters in Hollywood are beginning to show their age. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Peter Sollett’s latest film. It follows Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) from her first encounter with her future partner, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page), to her diagnosis of cancer and defending her legal right to give her pension to Stacie upon her death.
Scenes are scored by painfully banal guitars and pianos for emotional moments that are reminiscent of a Lifetime film. Julianne Moore breaks character in key scenes and instead operates in a standard mode for her, which has been seen countless times before. What merit the film has comes in reminding us why marriage equality was of great importance. However, the film demonstrates this with condescending and clunky dialogue.
The film also retains hesitancies about gay people. Laurel and Stacie never kiss during the film; they dance. Not only does the film’s narrative mirror that of Philadelphia but the depiction of physical intimacy between its gay couple is mimicked – except Philadelphia was made 23 years ago. Later, the intimate relationship between Laurel and her detective partner, Dane Wells (Michael Shannon), becomes the film’s focus; both Laurel and Stacie become supporting characters in their own narrative, as the slightly homophobic Dane becomes the protector of gay rights.
What’s worse is the sudden appearance of Steve Carrell as comic-relief Steven. While almost all the actors, with the exception of Page, sleepwalk through this movie, it is Carrell’s flamboyant character that becomes a jarring stereotype in a film that is trying to be serious. It doesn’t help that his desire for marriage equality is seen, by the film’s logic, as exploitative of the U.S. law. The film’s worst offence, however, is in being a bland and forgettable. It is no surprise it was lost among other contenders in the current Oscar season.
In a Nutshell: Freeheld is not a bad film, just a bland and forgettable one. By far its biggest problem is that, in 2016, we should expect a much better representation of LGBTQ+ people than what was made over 20 years ago.
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