Doubt -
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John Patrick Shanley brings his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play to the screen as a gripping story about the quest for truth, the forces of change, and the devastating consequences of blind justice in an age defined by moral conviction.
It’s 1964, St. Nicholas in the
Movie information
| Release Date (USA): | 2008-12-12 |
| Rating (USA): | PG-13 |
| Release Date (UK): | 2009-02-06 |
| Rating (UK) : | PG |
| Director: | John Patrick Shanley |
| Producer: | Scott Rudin |
| Studio: | Miramax Films |
| Writer/s: | John Patrick Shanley (play) |
Cast
| Meryl Streep | Sister Aloysius Beauvier |
| Philip Seymour Hoffman | Father Brendan Flynn |
| Amy Adams | Sister James |
Merchandise
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Doubt (Theatre)Doubt [Blu-ray] (DVD)
Talkback
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In response to the kind Dr's assessment of a personality change at the end: Streep's character is only continuing her manipulating ways by professing 'doubts' to the young, impressionable nun. Had the shot been of Ms. Streep's face instead of a two-shot we would have seen a devilish smirk through the tears of remorse. Very nicely done.
My wife and i saw this movie last weekend. I thought that the acting was what you would expect from these actors, however I felt that the movie as a whole was average for 90% of the film, but the last 10% was awful. The ending had that “deus ex machina” type of feel to it. The final scene came entirely out of the blue, and felt disjointed. Meryl Streep’s final line in the film seemed so contrived, as if it was put there simply to justify the title of the film.
The film could have used a few more scenes to between the”admission in the office” and the final scene.
Overall I felt that this film was written to simply be an oscar vehicle for streep and hoffman, built for dramatic monologues to showcase both of these actors.
I don’t think it is worthy of an oscar in any category.
WARNING! SPOILER!
Wow I completely disagree about the ending. This was a very thoughtful movie and the end line fit perfectly. The entire thing is a parable of contradictions. By any objective standards in legal court, Father Brendan Flynn must be found innocent, but it is of course obvious that he is guilty. In the office confrontation (the climax of the film) he attempts to use his authority, Sister Aloysius Beauvier’s sympathy, her own doubt in her moral certainty and convictions to convince her otherwise. She resists because she knows he is speaking falsely. However, this exposes to her all the ways in which these same methods have been used by him to connect with his parish and to proclaim his faith. This forces her to confront the reality of the logical weakness, not of his innocence, but of her faith. And in her struggle to find the truth as it applies to the case of his 'inappropriate relationship' she comes away seeing the parallels between honestly questioning his innocence and guilty with honestly questioning her faith. Watch it again, but this time, don't think of it as her putting him on trial, but her putting God or the Church on trial.
I saw Streep's character as the heroine-yes, she was manipulating and narrow minded, but she was a victim of the institution that created her. All that aside,she knew in her gut that something was wrong, seriously wrong, and she had the determination to follow through on it, despite popular consensus. Everything in the body language of Hoffman's character spoke to duplicity and guilt. His brilliant portrayal of a homosexual man in a conservative and homophobic era was breath-taking. We can conveniently look at this from an historical perspective, what we know now about pedophilia and the Catholic church can't help but inform our reaction to the film's premise of doubt.
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Dr. Irving ShugarDec 21st, 2008 - 22:28:55
Excellent movie, well written, directed, with superb acting. My only objection is the ending which depicted a personality completely out of character.
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