A world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.
When former journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) is dismissed from the Labour Party in disgrace, he is at a loss as to what do. That changes when a young Irish woman approaches him about a story of her mother, Philomena Lee (Dame Judi Dench), who had her son taken away when she was a teenage inmate of a Catholic convent. Martin arranges a magazine assignment about her search for him that eventually leads to America. Along the way, Martin and Philomena discover as much about each other as about her son's fate. Furthermore, both find their basic beliefs challenged.—Kenneth Chisholm ([email protected])
2002. Former BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) is mildly depressed for being fired from his post as a press secretary for a British government minster for information misconstrued in something he wrote, he being the token fall guy in the matter. Initially thinking about writing about his forte of Russian history, he somewhat reluctantly, as his first post-firing job, decides instead to write a probably more lucrative human interest story on Philomena Lee (Dame Judi Dench) when he learns of her plight from her daughter, Jane (Anna Maxwell Martin), his reluctance as he doesn't see himself as a writer of fluff. As a teenager, Philomena (Sophie Kennedy Clark) lived at Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Ireland as an unwed mother, there where she and the other unwed teenaged mothers were required to live and serve the abbey as "repayment" for four years. They all had limited access to their children, and while many, including Philomena, wanted eventually to leave with their children, they knew the nuns could and would adopt out the children if given the opportunity. Philomena's son, Anthony (Tadhg Bowen), was adopted when he was aged three, she not even being notified or thus allowed to say goodbye to him before it happened. Although Philomena has thought about Anthony her entire life and had made attempts to find him before, she has a strong feeling of uncertainty about him now on what would have been his fiftieth birthday. She doesn't necessarily want to see him, especially if she knows he doesn't want to see her, or blame anyone, especially those at the abbey as she is still a devout Catholic, but just wants to know that he is all right. In his time with Philomena, much of it just being the two of them alone, Martin, who has generally led a life of privilege, has to overcome his derision toward her solely because of her more provincial attitude. After visiting the abbey where most of the nuns from Philomena's time there have died, Martin decides to follow an anecdotal and thus unsubstantiated lead which takes the two of them to the United States. That rift between the two of them could widen if he discovers something in the story that she doesn't really want to know, or follow-up on, which could in turn be problematic as she may or may not be aware that he contractually has a story to write, he needing to find its most newsworthy aspects, good or bad.—Huggo
Wrestling with the idea of finding a new direction, former BBC correspondent and recently ousted Labour government advisor, Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), has a chance encounter with a woman whose mother - the God-fearing Catholic, Philomena Lee (Dame Judi Dench) - had her baby taken away from her nearly fifty years ago. Still feeling the pain of giving up her only child as an unmarried teenage mother, Philomena and Martin set off on a quest to find her son, starting off from her hometown of Washington, D.C., and then, to the convent where Philomena spent four years of her life. Will the two unlikely companions get to the bottom of this complex, fifty-year-old case?—Nick Riganas
The title character of this movie is played by Dame Judi Dench. She is an elderly Irish woman who, as a teenager, gave birth while she was working at a convent. The Catholic Church had the child adopted, and now, decades later, Philomena is introduced to Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), onetime government spokesperson who is now working as a freelance journalist. Martin agrees to help Philomena look for her son, and the trail takes them to the United States, and brings them face-to-face with some long-buried secrets. All the while, the type-A Martin and the ceaselessly charming Philomena learn to trust each other.
Journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) has lost his job as a Labor government adviser and is contemplating writing a book on Russian history. The debacle with the government was publicly reported and such Martin essentially made himself unemployable. Kate (Simone Lahbib) is Martin's wife and supports him during his difficult period.He is approached at a party by Jane (Anna Maxwell Martin) who is the daughter of Philomena Lee (Judie Dench). She suggests that he write a story about her mother, who was forced to give up her baby boy, Anthony, fifty years ago. Although he initially scorns the idea of writing a human-interest story, he eventually meets with Philomena and after hearing her shocking story, he decides to investigate further.
After a tryst with a young man at a fair in 1951, Philomena becomes pregnant and is sent by her father to Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea in Ireland. Philomena's mother had died 10 years ago and there was no one to give proper sex education to her. Her father was so ashamed that he told everyone that she was dead and never made any attempts to contact her at the Abbey.
During birth, the baby is in breech, but the Reverend Mother refuses to call a doctor and instead declares that Philomena is in God's hands and her pain is also her penance for her sin. Sister Anunciata (Amy McAllister) saved Philomena and her son's life by successfully delivering the baby.After giving birth, she is forced to work in their laundry for four years to pay off the cost of her stay, with little contact with her son as she was only allowed to see her son for 1 hour a day. Kathleen (Charlie Murphy) was Philomena's best friend. Philomena's son Anthony was best friends with Kathleen's daughter Mary.
One day she is distraught to discover that the nuns have adopted out her 3 years old son to a couple without warning or a chance to say goodbye. The couple had come for Mary, but Mary and Anthony were inseparable, so they took Anthony too.Philomena had kept her adopted son secret from her family for fifty years but had visited the convent periodically to try and find him. However, they had repeatedly told her that they were unable to help her find him.She believed the man at the fair was married to her mother's neighbor and that he had been watching her from afar, often following her home at nights.
Martin and Philomena begin their search by trying one more time at the convent. The nuns led by Sister Claire (Cathy Belton) are once again polite but unhelpful and claim that the adoption records had been lost in a fire years earlier. They did not, however, lose the contract she was forced to sign decades ago forbidding her from contacting her son. Martin wanted to speak to some of the older nuns to see if they remembered anything about Anthony, but Claire tells Martin that the older nuns are not accessible.
However later at a pub, the locals tell him that the convent had deliberately destroyed the records in a bonfire, and that most of the children had been sold for 1000 pounds to rich Americans. Even the famous American actress Jane Russell bought one from the Abbey. He learns that many birth mothers came to Abbey to find their babies, but not one was ever successful.Philomena still defends the nuns and say that they were trying to give the kids a better life.
Martin's inquiries reach a dead end in Ireland, and he invites Philomena to accompany him on a trip to the US to search for Anthony. His contacts there help him discover that Anthony was adopted by Doc and Marge Hess, who had renamed him Michael (Sean Mahon). He grew up to be a lawyer and senior official in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. When Philomena notices Martin in the background of a photo of Michael, he remembers that he met him years earlier while working in the US. They also learn that he has been dead for eight years.
Although distraught, Philomena decides that she wants to meet people who knew Michael. They visit a former colleague and discover that he was gay and died of AIDS. They also visit his sister Mary (Mare Winningham), who was adopted at the same time from the convent and learn that they were both emotionally and physically abused by their adoptive parents. Philomena learns about his lover Pete Olssen (Peter Hermann).
After avoiding Martin's attempts to contact him, Pete agrees to talk to Philomena. He shows Philomena some videos of his life with Michael. To Martin and Philomena's surprise, they see footage of Michael, dated shortly before he died, at the Abbey where he was adopted, and Pete explains that, although he never told his family, Michael had privately wondered about his birth mother all his life, and had returned to Ireland in his final months to try to find her. Pete informs them that the nuns had told Michael that his mother had abandoned him and that they had lost contact with her. He also reveals that, against his parents' wishes, he had Michael buried in the convent's cemetery.
Philomena and Martin go to the convent to ask them where Michael's grave is. Despite Philomena's pleas, Martin angrily breaks into the private quarters and argues with an elderly nun, Sister Hildegarde McNulty (Barbara Jefford), who worked at the convent when Anthony was forcibly adopted. He accuses her of lying to Anthony and denying him the chance to finally reunite with Philomena, purely out of self-righteousness. Hildegarde is unrepentant, saying that losing her son was Philomena's penance for having sex out of wedlock.
Martin demands an apology, telling her that what she did was not at par with Christian values, but is speechless when Philomena instead chooses to forgive her of her own volition. Philomena then asks to see her son's grave, where Martin tells her he has chosen not to publish the story. Philomena tells him to publish it anyway.
