Yuliia Riabova suspends disbelief for vintage comedy The Miracle Club.
“There's always hope, isn't there? Even when you don't completely believe.” – Lily Fox, The Miracle Club
Imagine: your dearest friend has just passed away, and you’re taking part in the talent contest she worked so hard to organise. That’s where we meet Dolly (Agnes O'Casey). She’s a young, loving mother who’s desperate to find a way for her son, Daniel (Eric Smith), to speak. The prize for the winner is two tickets to Lourdes – a sacred place in France where miracles are said to happen.
Joined by her friends Lily (Maggie Smith) and Eileen (Kathy Bates), Dolly is ready to set off on the biggest adventure of her life. At the last minute, the trio becomes a quartet when their late friend’s daughter, Chrissie (Laura Linney), boards the bus. She’s just returned from America for her mother’s funeral after 40 years of mysterious “exile”. However, the welcome is less than warm; no one except Father Dermot (Mark O'Halloran) seems pleased to see her.
But we don’t want to miss the ferry, do we?
And so, the journey of mending begins. Eileen hopes to cure a lump in her breast (though she wouldn’t speak to a doctor about it), while Lily seeks peace of soul rather than physical healing. We learn more about the strained relationship between Chrissie, Lily, and Eileen, and the tragic love story behind it. As they arrive in France, old wounds reopen. What was broken between these women begins to heal, and reconciliation, as the film’s central message, makes it all the more moving.
The story by Irish screenwriter Jimmy Smallhorne (2by4) explores the challenges of motherhood in a small Irish community in the 1960s, inspired by his own childhood memories of growing up in Ballyfermot. Transformed into a screenplay with the help of Timothy Prager and Joshua D. Maurer, it’s full of sharp and often delightfully Irish dialogue. This is banter one might easily overhear among neighbours: “One of these days you'll come home and I won't be shagging – well, here!” “Promises, promises…”
The hard labour that hides under the sweet “housewife” label comes as a revelation to the families left at home, as our ladies enjoy their time in France. It’s both humorous and a little pitiful to see Dolly’s husband George (Mark McKenna) trying to keep an eye on their little daughter, and Eileen’s large family struggling to cope with all the shopping and cooking for the first time in their lives.
Directed by award-winning Irish filmmaker Thaddeus O'Sullivan (December Bride, Nothing Personal), the movie feels almost like a fairytale – after all, you hardly ever see the weather this good in Ireland. Opening with a scene of the sun shining over the Dublin coast, it sets a warm tone, highlighted by scenic cinematography from John Conroy (Penny Dreadful, Westworld). Costumes by Judith Williams (Michael Collins) complement the colour palette, while also helping us understand characters a bit better: bright and fashionable for Dolly and Chrissie (whose yellow overcoat is a pure joy), darker and stricter for Lily and Eileen.
The Miracle Club holds the sad honour of being the final work in Dame Maggie Smith's remarkable career – although she signed on to the project as far back as 2005. For eighteen years, producers Joshua D. Maurer and Alixandre Witlin had been fighting to bring it to life. This is mirrored in the storyline, as the characters battle through challenges of their own.
Through patience, conversation, and understanding, every issue finds its resolution, and so the ladies return to Ireland, at peace with their past and looking to the future. Because in The Miracle Club, just like in life, miracles do happen. Maybe not always when or how you expect them to, but they do.
Even when you don't completely believe.
The Miracle Club is available to screen online now.
