“The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” – A personal journey [MOVIE REVIEW]
“The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,” written by Rachel Joyce based on her best seller, is directed by Hettie Macdonald. Macdonald, whose work on the popular Irish series “Normal People” established her as an artist who fully understands the importance of character development really knows how to tell a small story with bigger aspirations and meaning. “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” is just such a story.
Jim Broadbent. Photo courtesy of Quiver.
Harold and Maureen Fry are at an impasse. Married for many years, the tension at home is palpable. Recently retired, Harold putters; Maureen simmers. It’s not just that they no longer have anything to say or even that they have no common thread, but something has ruptured in what was probably once a healthy and loving relationship. They seem to have had a son, as the photos scattered around the house imply, but he is absent. It is an absence that is fraught, for reasons that will unfold gradually and are fundamental to the couple’s estrangement. But read between the lines and you will sense that Maureen feels unseen and Harold feels no purpose. When a seemingly banal postcard arrives, addressed to Harold, all will change.
Harold’s former colleague at the distillery, Queenie, has written that she has terminal cancer and has been sent to hospice in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, a village hundreds of miles north of Harold’s home in Kingsbridge. He’s shaken by this postcard, so simple and straightforward and so final. Finding the right words to send her, he composes a rather banal response. What can he do? What can he say? They had a history, not a romantic one, but a history nonetheless that has haunted him all these years. On his way to the post office, he realizes that the card is too little and too late, but obligation and emotion dictate that he must send it. As he walks around town, contemplating the impotence of this action, he stops by a garage shop and talks to a young girl with blue hair. He mentions his task and how fruitless it seems. She perks up and recounts how she saved her aunt from cancer by being there and giving her hope. Believing she could get better gave her hope and cured her. It strikes a cord and he does the unexpected. He calls the hospice and informs them that they must tell Queenie that he’s on his way. He is going to walk there; as long as he walks, she must live. “Tell her that this time I won’t let her down.” Writing on the back of the letter “Wait for me,” he posts it and sets off, right then and there. Later that night he phones Maureen from his first stop and makes his intentions known to her. Needless to say, she is less than thrilled.
Jim Broadbent. Photo courtesy of Quiver.
On his quixotic mission, he discovers the beautiful English countryside and helpful people along the way. Gradually his eyes are opened to the possibilities of hope and the healing of introspection. Maureen, on the other hand, feels abandoned and even more invisible than before. Her simmering resentment is in danger of boiling over. Both have submerged their need to deal with the tragedy that haunts them. Eventually both will come to deal with the root cause of their unacknowledged estrangement, but that’s after his long, long journey.
The cinematography by Kate McCullough is lyrical, making the English countryside an active character in this narrative. Rachel Joyce has written a screenplay from her novel that allows Macdonald to capitalize on the visual aspects of the story while still integrating the haunting flashbacks into Harold’s reason for persevering. She has made every moment count.
Macdonald captures just the right tone in unwrapping her story gradually as Harold makes slow, but gradual progress on his unlikely quest to save Queenie. But this isn’t really about saving Queenie at all, it’s about forgiving himself and finding the sense of good that he and Maureen had long given up on. With every footstep, he discovers something new about himself, about his life, about what went right before everything went wrong. Starting slowly, almost at a snail’s pace, it’s not the actions that build as Harold trudges on, but it’s the emotions that build. Macdonald has given us a travelog not just of the sights but of character as well. Does anything really happen? The answer is both yes and no because this is a character study of an unlikely and spontaneous act done by an unlikely and unspontaneous man for whom this is a surprising journey of discovery.
Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton. Photo courtesy of Quiver.
Queenie is played by the wonderful Linda Bassett, well known as Nurse Phyllis Crane on “Call the Midwife.” Her naturally radiating warmth makes an indelible presence despite her limited screen time. Penelope Wilton, as Maureen Fry, allows her character to gradually defrost and reveal the hurt and betrayal she has felt over their loss. Her resentment is a necessary counterpoint to Harold’s optimistic quest.
But this film is called “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” and is graced with the extraordinary actor, Academy and BAFTA Award winner James Broadbent, whose range knows no bounds. His Harold is confused, melancholy, lost and alone. Broadbent is the kind of actor who can portray all of that in a glance, in a wavering tone, in a footstep faltering from pain. Broadbent is a chameleon playing comedy, tragedy, villain, hero and ordinary man. As you get to know Harold and his demons, you will see how he is all of the above.
Performance, direction, writing, cinematography all work together to make this a film that will sneak up on you and open your heart to forgiveness and possibility.
Opening September 20 at the Lumiere Music Hall and on On Demand platforms.