Review of Vera Drake (2004) by Numna S — 27 Oct 2009

Well, damn. That's my immediate response to this film. I've never seen such a film where nothing entertaining ever happens, but you still end up gripped to the screen.

Vera Drake is the story of a woman who lives a sort of double life. Vera (Imelda Staunton) uses some of her spare time to help young woman get out of unwanted pregnancies in what she believes is helping them. She eventually gets caught, which leads to the second half of the film.

The most realized part of this film are the characters themselves. While not much backstory is given, the actors portraying them nail everything as realistically as possible. Imelda Staunton steals the show completely, though, regardless of how perfect everyone else might be. She is supremely cheer free in the beginning, but at the second half, she's almost a different woman.

This performance is also like the film. At first, everything is sort of haphazard and with no cohesion, just like real life. Vera goes about her business as a maid and performs a few miscarriages. She is so worry free that you almost begin to feel sick. The buildup to her first onscreen abortion is also flawless.

When she does get caught, her world completely flips and the film takes a different tone. Close up shots on actors faces, long pauses with no dialog, direction where the camera sits still and clouds your judgment of the scene around you. It works almost as if your mind is being side-tracked by a trauma, which is exactly what the film is going for.

The only thing (for me at least) that doesn't work too well are some of the side characters. The story is entirely about Vera, but we get a build up of her children and one other woman who has the misfortune of being raped. I believe these work as opposites to Vera's dark story, but since they never go anywhere, it seems like they could have been left out. Either that, or at least give the viewer some closure on everyone else.

In the end, Vera Drake epitomizes the old saying of, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." It does this without telling the viewer how to react to Vera, either, so you immediately get to draw your own conclusions about the woman. While this is definitely a dark and daunting story, I say give it a shot. You never know what a well acted drama may do for you.