Evelyn
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Starring Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Vavasseur.
Evelyn is based on the true story of Desmond Doyle’s legal battle to have his young children returned to him by the overly paternalistic Irish government of the 1950s. Doyle’s battle made him a household name in his day and his legal battle made Irish legal history and highlighted the religious biases of the legal system that was then in place.
Set in 1950s Dublin Evelyn opens with unemployed Desmond Doyle (Pierce Brosnan) finding himself parenting his young children alone when his wife suddenly walks out on him. Government authorities soon find out that he is alone and struggling to raise his children and begin by offering assistance. This assistance soon turns into the removal of his children on the proviso that when he finds a job and can show that he can support them, his children they will be returned. The story then follows the separate paths of Desmond and Evelyn, his eldest child.
Evelyn is sent to a home for underprivileged and orphaned girls run by Catholic nuns. She finds that there are good and bad people amongst her caretakers.
Desmond finds work and then discovers that he can’t take his children back. There is a law in Ireland that says that in the case of separated parents, both parents must agree that the children are returned. Desmond’s wife is nowhere to be found and the only news of her is via a single postcard from Australia. Desmond begins his fight to bring his children home, first through the local courts, then through the Irish Supreme Court.
Brosnan’s portrayal of the distraught father is fabulous, and Brosnan plays him as a flawed man with a singular vision. Young Sophie Vavasseur is also wonderful as the bright and precocious Evelyn who refuses to lose her spirit in the oppressive institution she finds herself in.
Despite these great performances, Evelyn is quite a superficial film. We never really feel a connection to the characters which would have elevated this film to being a deeply moving experience. However, the film makes up for this in story where the outcome is never clear and the final decision is a nail-biting event.
Overall: interesting courtroom drama with great performances by the two leads.
Esther
