Screened Out – Freeheld

[three-star-rating]Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Michael Shannon, Steve Carrell[/three-star-rating]

Freeheld is an earnest, straightforward movie about Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree, a lesbian couple who had to fight for marriage equality in 2005. Hester (Moore) was dying of cancer after 23 years as a detective for the Ocean County, New Jersey police. She rightfully felt that her partner, Andree (Page), should get her pension.

Unfortunately, at that time, New Jersey only had domestic partnership, and laws to make sure that LGBT people were treated equally were spotty. County positions weren’t under the gubernatorial jurisdiction. Than meant that the five-member Freeholders – their version of a county commission – could decide the fate of Hester’s pension. They said no…twice.

This was well before June 26 of this year, when the US Supreme court gave us the right to marriage equality… well, mostly we have equality…the laws are still spotty when it comes to private companies… Anyway, that’s another story.

Freeheld is solidly plotted and directed. It’s not a very surprising story at all. It’s a nice film – one you might expect less in cineplexes and more on Lifetime or Oprah’s channel. Definitely, Moore’s phenomenal acting makes this movie much better.

After a long, overly protracted courtship, Hester and Andree register as domestic partners, get a dog, and buy a house together. Then Hester finds she has late-stage lung cancer, and the meatier portion of the plot finally kicks in. Hester fiercely hid her lesbianism from her work partner (Shannon) and the rest of the force for years; she was scared that their finding out would limit her career moves. Now, Andree pushes Hester to be more open. Hester’s diagnosis and their public battle for the pension means Hester is forced out of the closet.

This part – almost halfway through – is well done. In fact, it indicates what the flick is missing up to this point: complexity and tension. Almost no one who chooses to see this film will need convincing about who’s in the right. (Conservative Christians will stay away, natch.) In fact, if it weren’t for some of the acting, this would be secondary to the 2007 documentary under the same title.

Ron Nyswaner, who penned Philadelphia and The Painted Veil, wrote Freeheld. Peter Sollett (Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, Raising Victor Vargas) directs. So, it’s a little surprising they couldn’t find more conflict buried in the story. In fact, Sollett’s editing and framing of shots are also sometimes funky, cutting off people’s foreheads – weirdly focusing on their collars and ties. (This may be one of those things only a critic notices.)

[rating-key]

Page – who produced the film – does a good, solid job as Andree; you can tell her heart is in it. Shannon is great as Hester’s stoic, noble partner. Carrell goes a little too far as a flamboyant LGBT activist.

Moore, though, quietly steals the entire show. Of course, we see her suffer through a painful slow death from cancer. However, her fears and her strength are really what carry the role. Overall, Freeheld is a forthright film about fighting social injustice; Moore’s worries and bravery are what raises everything above average.