Mary and Martha (film)

Last updated

Mary and Martha
Maryandmartha.jpg
Poster
Written by Richard Curtis
Directed by Phillip Noyce
Starring Hilary Swank
Brenda Blethyn
Original languageEnglish
Production
Producers Hilary Bevan Jones
Lisa Bruce
Genevieve Hofmeyr
CinematographyRoberto De Angelis
Running time90 minutes
Original release
Network BBC One
Release1 March 2013 (2013-03-01)

Mary and Martha is a 2013 British-American television film starring Hilary Swank and Brenda Blethyn, and directed by Phillip Noyce. Based on a screenplay by Richard Curtis, it was produced by Working Title Television, in association with the BBC and NBCUniversal. The film had its UK premiere on 1 March 2013 on BBC One and premiered in the US on HBO on 20 April 2013. The film is based on a true story. The film centers around two mothers, one British, one American, who share only one thing in common: the loss of their sons to malaria. After the deaths of their sons, the mothers decide to travel to Africa to help with malaria prevention. The film was nominated for the Humanitas Prize. [1]

Contents

Plot

The film tells the story of two very different women, Mary (Hilary Swank) and Martha (Brenda Blethyn), who both lose their sons to malaria.

Mary is an overly protective American mother. After her young son and only child, George (Lux Haney-Jardine), is bullied by classmates, she decides to pull him out of school and take him on an extended trip to Africa because she feels she can give him a better education. While there, he is bitten by a mosquito, contracts malaria, and dies. In the midst of grieving, Mary decides to return to Africa after George's funeral where she meets Martha, a British woman whose grown son, Ben (Sam Claflin), [2] has also just died of the same disease while working at an orphanage in Mozambique. He too was an only child.

The two women turn their grief into action, hoping to thwart the disease, which the World Health Organization estimates killed 660,000 people in 2010, most of them African children. The movie builds to a scene in which the women testify before a Congressional subcommittee. In the process, Mary and Martha come to realise that the losses experienced by two comfortable white Western households are atypical, and that the real impact of malaria is on parts of the world that few people in their circles know or care about.

Cast

Reception

Upon its broadcast, the film received positive reviews from critics. Brian Lowry from Variety felt that "Mary and Martha harks back to when the service was content to tell great little stories – often with an agenda – that might not have been commercial enough to find a home elsewhere [...] Admittedly, Curtis has a rather facile view of how good can be accomplished, but in a cynical age, there's something refreshing about old-fashioned idealism, even if the movie hinges on well-intentioned Westerners bringing relief to the Third World. Part of that has to do with the intensely personal approach to the story, and the palpable anguish Swank and Blethyn convey." [3] Neil Genzlinger, writer for The New York Times , wrote that "this movie grabs for every heartstring in sight" and added, "also detracting from the story is that the movie has too much Mary and not enough Martha. So much effort goes into setting up Ms. Swank's somewhat annoying character for a fall that Ms. Blethyn's more interesting character is given short shrift. But the scenes in which the two actresses are together have some real power." [4]

Critical with the film, The A.V. Club 's Simon Abrams wrote that "at first, the off-the-cuff insensitivity that Mary and Martha's characters persistently exhibit seems benign enough. Mary and Martha is, after all, a made-for-TV melodrama about two mothers that bond after their respective sons die from malaria, and grief does sometimes manifest itself in strange ways. Screenwriter Richard Curtis and director Phillip Noyce do their best to, in the words of Hilary Swank's Mary, "tell you how it feels to have a personal involvement with malaria." But while Curtis makes a point of making characters show their grief by gingerly stepping on each other's toes, Mary and Martha is more of a product of unwitting creative insensitivity than an apt reflection of it." [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilary Swank</span> American actress and film producer (born 1974)

Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress and film producer. Swank first became known in 1992 for her role on the television series Camp Wilder and made her film debut with a minor role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). She then had her breakthrough for starring as Julie Pierce in The Next Karate Kid (1994), the fourth installment of The Karate Kid franchise, and as Carly Reynolds on the eighth season of Beverly Hills, 90210 (19971998).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Curtis</span> British filmmaker (born 1956)

Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis is a British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Love Actually (2003), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), About Time (2013), and Yesterday (2019). He is also known for the drama War Horse (2011) and for having co-written the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean, and The Vicar of Dibley. His early career saw him write material for the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News and ITV's Spitting Image.

<i>Six Feet Under</i> (TV series) American drama television series

Six Feet Under is an American drama television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It premiered on the premium network HBO in the United States on June 3, 2001, and ended on August 21, 2005, spanning 63 episodes across five seasons. It depicts the lives of the Fisher family, who run a funeral home in Los Angeles, along with their friends and lovers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brenda Blethyn</span> British actress (born 1946)

Brenda Blethyn is an English actress. Known for her character work and versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and two Primetime Emmys. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in 2003.

<i>Million Dollar Baby</i> 2004 American sports drama film by Clint Eastwood

Million Dollar Baby is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, scored by and starring Clint Eastwood from a screenplay written by Paul Haggis, based on stories from the 2000 collection Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole, the pen name of fight manager and cutman Jerry Boyd. It also stars Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. The film follows Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald (Swank), an underdog amateur boxer who is helped by an underappreciated boxing trainer (Eastwood) to achieve her dream of becoming a professional.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillip Noyce</span> Australian filmmaker (born 1950)

Phillip Noyce is an Australian film and television director. Since 1977, he has directed over 19 feature films in various genres, including historical drama ; thrillers ; and action films. He has also directed the Jack Ryan adaptations Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), as well as the 2014 adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver.

<i>The Girl in the Café</i> 2005 television film directed by David Yates

The Girl in the Café is a British made-for-television drama film directed by David Yates, written by Richard Curtis and produced by Hilary Bevan Jones. The film is produced by the independent production company Tightrope Pictures and was originally screened on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 25 June 2005. It was also shown in the United States on HBO on the same day. Bill Nighy portrays the character of Lawrence, with Kelly Macdonald portraying Gina. Nighy and Macdonald had previously starred together in the 2003 BBC serial State of Play, which was also directed by Yates and produced by Bevan-Jones. The Girl in the Café's casting director is Fiona Weir who, at the time, was also the casting director for the Harry Potter films, the last four of which Yates directed.

<i>Anne Frank: The Whole Story</i> Television miniseries

Anne Frank: The Whole Story is a 2001 two-part biographical war drama television miniseries based on the 1998 book Anne Frank: The Biography by Melissa Müller. The television miniseries aired on ABC on May 20 and 21, 2001. The television miniseries starred Ben Kingsley, Brenda Blethyn, Hannah Taylor-Gordon and Lili Taylor. Controversially, but in keeping with the claim made by Melissa Müller, the television miniseries asserts that the anonymous betrayer of the Frank family was the office cleaner, when in fact the betrayer's identity had never been established until 2022. A disagreement between the producers of the television miniseries and the Anne Frank Foundation about the validity of this and other details led to the withdrawal of their endorsement of the dramatization, which prevented the use of any quotations from the writings of Anne Frank appearing within the television miniseries. Both Kingsley and Taylor-Gordon received Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations for their performances as Otto Frank and Anne Frank, respectively.

<i>Saving Grace</i> (2000 film) 2000 British film by Nigel Cole

Saving Grace is a 2000 British comedy film, directed by Nigel Cole, starring Brenda Blethyn and Craig Ferguson. The screenplay was written by Ferguson and Mark Crowdy. Set in Cornwall, the film tells the story of a middle aged widow whose irresponsible husband left her in an enormous debt, forcing her to grow cannabis in her greenhouse along with her gardener Matthew to avoid losing her house. It was co-produced by Fine Line Features, Homerun Productions, Portman Entertainment, Sky Pictures, and Wave Pictures and filmed in London and the villages of Boscastle and Port Isaac in Cornwall. Distributed by 20th Century Fox in major territories, the film premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, where it won Cole the Audience Award for World Cinema.

<i>Tsunami: The Aftermath</i> 2006 American TV disaster drama

Tsunami: The Aftermath is a 2006 American disaster drama television miniseries that dramatizes the events in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

Since the publication ofTo Kill a Mockingbird in 1960, there have been many references and allusions to it in popular culture. The book has been internationally popular for more than a half century, selling more than 30 million copies in 40 languages. It currently (2013) sells 750,000 copies a year and is widely read in schools in America and abroad. Harper Lee and her publisher did not expect To Kill a Mockingbird to be such a huge success. Since it was first published in 1960, it has sold close to one million copies a year and has been the second-best-selling backlist title in the United States. Whether they like the book or not, readers can remember when and where they were the first time they opened the book. Because of this, Mockingbird has become a pillar for students around the country and symbol of justice and the reminiscence of childhood. To Kill a Mockingbird is not solely about the cultural legal practices of Atticus Finch, but about the fatherly virtues he held towards his children and the way Scout viewed him as a father.

<i>Quiet Days in Hollywood</i> 1997 German film

Quiet Days in Hollywood is a 1997 German drama film written by Robert G. Brown and Josef Rusnak and directed by Rusnak. The film stars Hilary Swank, Chad Lowe, and Natasha Gregson Wagner.

<i>P.S. I Love You</i> (film) 2007 film by Richard LaGravenese

P.S. I Love You is a 2007 American romantic film directed by Richard LaGravenese from a screenplay by LaGravenese and Steven Rogers based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Cecelia Ahern. The film stars Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon, James Marsters, Harry Connick Jr. and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

John Henry Falsey Jr. was an American television writer, director and producer.

<i>Amelia</i> (film) 2009 American film

Amelia is a 2009 biographical film about aviatrix Amelia Earhart. The film stars Hilary Swank as Earhart, and co-stars Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston and Joe Anderson. The film was directed by Mira Nair and based on The Sound of Wings by Mary S. Lovell. The film received predominantly negative reviews, with critics polarized over the performances and criticizing the film's story.

<i>Conviction</i> (2010 film) 2010 American film

Conviction is a 2010 American biographical legal drama film directed by Tony Goldwyn, written by Pamela Gray, and starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell. The film premiered on September 11, 2010, at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the US on October 15, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Haddock</span> British actress (born 1985)

Laura Jane Haddock is a British actress. She is known for portraying Zoë Walker in White Lines, Max Meladze in The Recruit, Lucrezia in Da Vinci's Demons, Meredith Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Viviane Wembly in Transformers: The Last Knight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Claflin</span> British actor (born 1986)

Samuel George Claflin is a British actor. After graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2009, he began his acting career on television and had his first film role as Philip Swift in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011).

<i>Clear History</i> 2013 American TV series or program

Clear History is a 2013 American comedy television film directed by Greg Mottola, written by Larry David, Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer, and starring Larry David, Kate Hudson, Danny McBride, Philip Baker Hall, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes, Amy Ryan, Bill Hader and J. B. Smoove. The film premiered on August 10, 2013, on HBO.

Mary and Martha may refer to:

References

  1. "The Humanitas Prize Announces Finalists". Humanitas Prize. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  2. Keveney, Bill (18 April 2013). "Malaria is the tragedy of HBO's 'Mary and Martha'". USA Today.
  3. Lowry, Brian (15 April 2013). "Review: "TV Reviews: HBO's 'Mary and Martha,' Lifetime's 'Call Me Crazy'"". Variety . Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  4. Genzlinger, Neil (19 April 2013). "Bereaved and Incited by Malaria". The New York Times . Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  5. Abrams, Simon (20 April 2013). "Other Shows". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 30 April 2013.