“Vera Drake” is the new Mike Leigh movie, and it begins like other Mike Leigh movies: We’re in England, the setting is working-class and stark, the acting style is utterly realistic.
It’s 1950, and the title character, a middle-aged wife and mum, goes about her rounds as a house cleaner. Her husband works in a garage, and they have two adult children, a son and daughter who live at home.
About a half-hour into the movie, after we’ve grown accustomed to watching Vera in her routine, she visits a young woman in a flat, puts the kettle on the stove as always, and tells the girl to lie down on the bed and take her knickers off. Then Vera performs an abortion for the girl.
This dramatic revelation gives the audience information that even Vera’s family doesn’t have. Vera, this chronically cheerful friend to all, also helps out girls who’ve gotten into trouble.
“Vera Drake” sounds like an issue movie. It is and it isn’t. As in Leigh’s best pictures, such as “Secrets &Lies” and “Naked,” the gritty business of being human and getting on in the world are the primary subject.
Vera, who doesn’t take money for doing the abortions, knows that her sideline is illegal. Clearly, Leigh is sympathetic to her, although he doesn’t shy away from exploring the possible dangerous medical consequences of what Vera is doing.
As is his custom, Leigh works with his cast to develop characters and dialogue. This must account for the movie’s astonishingly precise and flavorful dialogue – even when the dialogue isn’t unusual, as in the endless repetitions of “Can’t complain” or “Others have it worse” that make up the bulk of ordinary conversations.
The characters are multi-layered, the acting superb. Vera is played by Imelda Staunton, the veteran British performer, who often plays comic roles. With her wizened pixie’s face and her don’t-mind-me bustle, Staunton perfectly embodies the character – everybody’s best friend and neighbor.
Phil Davis is spot-on as her devoted husband Stan, as is Adrian Scarborough as Stan’s brother. (The two actors really do look like brothers). Stan works for his brother, who owns an auto-repair shop, and the economic difference sits quietly between them.
In the supporting characters, you constantly marvel at how Mike Leigh finds these amazing faces. Outgoing Daniel Mays and mousy Alex Kelly play Vera’s children, and a potential suitor for the daughter is played by Eddie Marsan, who has a long, sad, non-movie-star face.
Leigh’s refusal to judge the characters actually makes the movie tend to trundle on rather than build, although eventually there is a legal reckoning for Vera’s actions. It’s not always an easy film to sit through, but the eye for detail and marvelous acting give “Vera Drake” a light from within its dreary setting.
“Vera Drake” HHH
Gritty topic, great cast: That chronicler of British striving, Mike Leigh, directed this look at a salt-of-the-earth type who performs illegal abortions in 1950 London. The uncanny ear for dialogue and the superb collection of actors give the movie a light from within its dreary setting.
Rated: R for subject matter.
Now showing: Harvard Exit, Seattle.
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