Doubt (2008, USA)

Doubt is essentially an actor’s film. There’s not too much to it apart from the script and the three central roles – all of which are played beautifully by Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. It’s obvious that this is a stage adaptation, and unfortunately writer/director John Patrick Shanley, in his first directorial project in nearly 20 years (the only other film Shanley has helmed was Joe Versus the Volcano), does not have the skills to push the look of the film past inherent staginess. There are a lot of awkward, heavy-handed shots (don’t let me get into how much I dislike the off-kilter camera), which unfortunately highlight some of the more overbearing aspects of the script – though, due mostly to the topics the film deals with, some weightiness can be forgiven.

It’s not just the did-it-or-didn’t-it-happen question at the center of the film that provides for some serious contemplation, but deeper issues which inform the plot – the use of power within the church, particularly between the sexes, and to a lesser extent, the place of the church in an increasingly secular world. Standing in for church tradition (mostly) is Sister Aloysius (Streep), whose suspicions about progressive priest Father Flynn (Hoffman) are brought to light by the young Sister James (Adams). But neither Aloysius nor Flynn are exactly what they seem, particularly when it comes to the hidden power dynamics between nuns and priests that inform every movement of their interactions with one another. James becomes something of a pinball between the two, as do the students at the parochial school that Aloysius runs and the parishioners at Flynn’s church.

I’ve never been an enormous Streep fan, but the more of her recent work I see, the more I respect her, and I’m hard-pressed to think of another American film actress who could bring the ambiguities of Sister Aloysius to life. I’m a shameless Hoffman fan, and both he and Adams deserve their Globe nominations (nothing against Viola Davis at all– her one scene is quite devastating, but it is just one scene, and I’m tired of award-granters handing out nominations for such minimal parts). I’m fairly certain that at least two of the three will show up in the Oscar nomination roll call as well. Unfortunately, the film itself is too stilted to really bring anything truly cinematic to the fore – it remains essentially a filmed play, lacking that extra spark to make it a great movie.