fuzzis
05-28-2006, 12:55 AM
What a sad, sad movie. Set in 1950 London, it's the story of Vera Drake and her family. Vera is hard-working and cheerful, checking on her invalid mother and the neighbor next door, setting her painfully shy daughter up with an awkward man from down the street.
Vera also "helps" girls who get into trouble by providing abortions. She doesn't take money for her services, although her intermediary (her sister?) does without her knowledge. As Vera says to the police when they come to question her after a young woman she's treated nearly dies (the first to Vera's knowledge in approximately 20 years), she would never take money for her work...she's helping them manage.
The point is made in the film that if you're rich, an abortion can be legally procurred for you. The daughter of one of the families that Vera works for as a domestic is raped and finds herself in need of an abortion. She sees a doctor who sends her to a psychiatrist who arranges everything, for 100 pounds.
The expression on Vera's face when the police come is incredible. Just shocked and blank and frightened. The family is a bit shattered when Vera is arrested...angry that she'd kept something like that from them, ashamed of her for what she's done. The husband Stan says to his son, who appears to struggle with it the most, that he has to forgive his mother because she'd love him no matter what he did. He owes her that. Stan's brother's wife, who has just found out that she's pregnant, initially refuses to go to Christmas dinner at the Drake's, but her husband reminds her that Vera has been like a mother to him, taught him how to waltz in the front room, helped him get his shop started.
There are all sorts of moments in the movie that are just heart-breaking. The scenes where Vera is "helping" women, so very matter-of-fact about it, soothing, comforting. In and out. And the scene at the end when she's in prison with the other abortionists...in fact all of the scenes with Vera after she's been arrested. The shock and confusion she experiences were very palpable.
It wasn't a joyful movie, but it was a good one.
fuzzis
Vera also "helps" girls who get into trouble by providing abortions. She doesn't take money for her services, although her intermediary (her sister?) does without her knowledge. As Vera says to the police when they come to question her after a young woman she's treated nearly dies (the first to Vera's knowledge in approximately 20 years), she would never take money for her work...she's helping them manage.
The point is made in the film that if you're rich, an abortion can be legally procurred for you. The daughter of one of the families that Vera works for as a domestic is raped and finds herself in need of an abortion. She sees a doctor who sends her to a psychiatrist who arranges everything, for 100 pounds.
The expression on Vera's face when the police come is incredible. Just shocked and blank and frightened. The family is a bit shattered when Vera is arrested...angry that she'd kept something like that from them, ashamed of her for what she's done. The husband Stan says to his son, who appears to struggle with it the most, that he has to forgive his mother because she'd love him no matter what he did. He owes her that. Stan's brother's wife, who has just found out that she's pregnant, initially refuses to go to Christmas dinner at the Drake's, but her husband reminds her that Vera has been like a mother to him, taught him how to waltz in the front room, helped him get his shop started.
There are all sorts of moments in the movie that are just heart-breaking. The scenes where Vera is "helping" women, so very matter-of-fact about it, soothing, comforting. In and out. And the scene at the end when she's in prison with the other abortionists...in fact all of the scenes with Vera after she's been arrested. The shock and confusion she experiences were very palpable.
It wasn't a joyful movie, but it was a good one.
fuzzis