Reviewed by: Avril Carruthers
Sweet without being too sentimental despite having a plot which sounds deceptively like a Hallmark movie or TV soap, Scottish film Dear Frankie is surprisingly worthwhile. Nine-year-old deaf boy Frankie Morrison (Jack McElhone) has been regularly writing to his dad who is supposedly away at sea. In fact, the letters are retrieved by his mother Lizzie (Emily Mortimer), who also writes the replies Frankie believes are from his father. When the father's ship comes to their Clydeside home port, Lizzie has a dilemma – fess up and expose her own deception and his fatherless state, or find a surrogate dad for a day to keep young Frankie's illusions intact.
Through Frankie's voiced-over letter to his ‘da' as the film opens we hear that they are moving house ‘again!' A battered van rattles over Scottish country roads, Frankie's gran Nell (Mary Riggans) smoking incessantly in the front seat. Their first view of the town of Greenock from a hill above the port shows both industry and natural beauty, and the hill becomes a special place for Frankie.
However, settling in a grimy flat above a fish and chips shop in Greenock, the town streets, the people and Frankie's school are grey, pinched and colourless. Lizzie is apparently a hunted, closed-in, worried person, constantly on the run. In contrast are the vibrant character of Marie (Sharon Small) behind the counter in the fish and chip shop, and the walls in Frankie‘s room, soon covered with his drawings of marine life and an enormous wall chart of a map of the world, with red flags signifying his father's ports of call all over the world. Frankie's inner life is obviously rich, his deafness has made him find resources within himself, and as played by Jack McElhone he has stillness and presence.
His interactions with kids at school, bully Ricky Monroe (Sean Brown) – whom Frankie seems determined to turn into a friend despite ample evidence of mean-spirited jealousy – and the lovely Catriona (Jayd Johnson), who only knows how to spell ‘Hello' in deaf sign language, show that deafness is not a barrier for friendship. Frankie is also a ‘champion lip reader', enabling him to understand a great deal more than he lets on, while he is not above gently manipulating adults for his benefit.
Frankie's relationship with his mother is close. Her deception with the letters is ostensibly to protect him from certain painful truths about his long-gone father, and she tells herself she always thought he would lose interest eventually and stop writing. However, her need to ‘hear Frankie's voice' and his inner thoughts through his letters to his da means that she herself urges him to keep writing if he lapses for more than a fortnight. Emily Mortimer's performance as Lizzie is subtly textured. A fragile person whose fantasy of a perfect lover has been cruelly disabused, she now lives suspicious of contact with strangers. Her tough, cynical mother Nell wonders ‘where she came from', so out of place and naïve is she. It's especially evident in a scene where Lizzie goes into a typically rough portside bar, and the men check her out like ravenous dogs around a piece of meat. “Look, love,” rasps the barmaid, assessing her with one look, “I hope you know we don't do dreams here.
As the plot develops, Marie plays a catalytic role and opportunities arise for both Frankie and Lizzie to expand parts of their lives hitherto unexplored. Various crucial revelations, which I do not want to spoil for you, are gradually exposed. The story ends in a tender, unexpected and life-affirming way, for the most part narrowly missing a mawkish sentimentality into which it could easily fall.
Sharon Small, known mainly from her TV roles in The Inspector Linley Mysteries and Glasgow Kiss, is a delight in this film as Marie and contrasts beautifully with Emily Mortimer's fearfully protective and deeply conflicted Lizzie, who in turn begins to open and blossom under Marie's influence. Mary Riggans as Nell is solid and empathic while a resonant Gerard Butler as the Stranger does much to indicate that dreams may in fact come true for the faithful. 10-year-old Jack McElhone as Frankie, last seen as Tilda Swinton's son in the gritty Young Adam, is simply a wonder.
Director and Director of Photography Shona Auerbach uses a photographer's eye to great effect, with mostly naturally-lit shots subtly emphasising the inner experience of the characters and the effect of their environments and relationships on them. There is much that is shown, not told, in this film. The light touch illuminating the emotional worlds of these people, whom we have come to care about, is beautifully wrought. The simple sound track of mainly piano music is appropriate and moving.
Special Thanks: Movie-Vault
