Jung & Film – The Children Act (2018)

The Children Act (2018) (Ethics points applied for)

PRESENTERS: John Gosling, Renee Ramsden, Grace Reid
Venue: CG Jung Centre, 87 Main Road, Rosebank, Cape Town 7700
Time: Friday 4 October 2019 18:00 for 18:30

Run time: 1 hour 46 minutes

Please book your ticket through the SAAJA Office by emailing saaja@mweb.co.za

Besides a spectacular performance by Emma Thompson who delivers what has to be one of the most nuanced and moving performances of her entire career, there are themes of relationships, ethics, morality, and the law. Written by Ian McEwan, it is based on his 2014 novel of the same name.

Fiona (Emma Thompson), a judge in the High Court of Justice, has to rule on a case of a Jehovah Witness 17-year-old, Adam (newcomer Fionn Whitehead), dying of leukaemia who needs a blood transfusion that is against he and his parents’ religious beliefs. Such cases thrust her into battles over religion as well as family, but the British Children Act of 1989, that gives the film its title, authorizes the court to act as the agent and protector of the child in such thorny cases.

Fiona visits the boy in hospital and a profound connection and communication at the psychoid level occurs between them. Her own relationship with her husband, Jack (Stanley Tucci), a university professor, is failing due to neglect of Jack and her zealousness related to her legal work and obligations.

She is very shut down emotionally with little access to and a limited ability to express her affects in a mature way. Her relationship with Adam becomes a transformative experience that eventually helps to melt her frozen heart. This allows her to be vulnerable and to dare to love.