The Miracle Club, 2023.
Directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan.
Starring Laura Linney, Kathy Bates, Maggie Smith, Stephen Rea, Agnes O’Casey, Shauna Higgins, Niall Buggy, Hazel Doupe, Mark McKenna, Leslie Conroy, Fionnuala Murphy, Eric D. Smith, Luke Jackson Smith, and Mark O’Halloran.
SYNOPSIS:
There’s just one dream for the women of Ballygar to taste freedom: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes.
There are two movies inside director Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s The Miracle Club, which could result from a crowded screenplay team consisting of Joshua D. Maurer, Timothy Prager, and Jimmy Smallhorne. The first is an offputting, irritating, generic tale of tight-knit older friends living in a small Irish town during the 1960s, seeking adventurous travels. In the name of religion and friendship, Eileen (Kathy Bates), Lily (Maggie Smith), and Dolly (Agnes O’Casey) all have hopes of winning the church’s talent show, which rewards an all-expenses-paid trip to miracle hotspot Lourdes. However, it’s not strictly for sightseeing, as they each have some aspect of healing that they hope they are blessed with during their stay.
Coinciding with the talent show is the death of Lily’s close friend, which brings estranged daughter Chrissie (Laura Linney) back into the country to pay her respects. For reasons that become clear over time and are much darker than expected, these catty women (save for Dolly, who is primarily interested in healing her young son’s muteness) have a grudge against Chrissie. Unsurprisingly, everyone ends up on the trip to Lourdes.
Before the trip, most of these women are hounded by their verbally abusive man-children husbands not to go anywhere, which even the screenwriters seem unsure as if they are trying to play this for laughs (a misguided choice) or are taking the relationship dynamics seriously. The fact that there are scenes (back home when the women are on vacation) depicting the men as bumbling chefs or incompetent at changing diapers implies that this is all a joke. None of it is particularly funny, as the rest of The Miracle Club threatens to be a hokey story about, well, the existence of miracles blessing our protagonists.
Somewhere in the last 30 minutes of this mercifully short film, the narrative turns into dramatic territory, addressing the dark past looming over these characters, which involves Lily’s son inexplicably deceased from a drowning accident despite having much experience at sea. Barriers come down, vulnerabilities are expressed, and most intriguingly, the women come face-to-face with the hard truth that only 60 miracles are accounted for (which are also probably dubious, anyway), and they will go home with fractured faith. It’s a series of dialogue exchanges and revelations that allow this ensemble of legendary veterans to find and bring something substantial to the surface, as they confess secrets and finally begin to support one another.
These filmmakers have the right idea of depicting healing as something that has to come from within and forgiveness, not made-up magic that will absolve everyone of their wrongdoings. In one case, it’s not even a wrongdoing, but rather an attempted abortion that paves the way for a beautifully acted scene of solidarity and validation for making that choice.
Coupled with the admittedly marvelous travelogue scenery captured by cinematographer John Conroy, that is the story within The Miracle Club worth investing in. The rest is a tone-deaf disaster that downplays some seriously concerning domestic situations. There are no cinematic miracles here, just an enticing ensemble wasted, stuck in a film desperately needing its first two-thirds rewritten.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
