User Reviews

It's 1967 Ballygar, Ireland. Chrissie Ahearn (Laura Linney) returns to her home town for her estranged mother's funeral. Her mother left her a ticket to pilgrimage destination town of Lourdes, France. Lily Fox (Maggie Smith), Eileen Dunne (Kathy Bates), and Dolly Hennessy (Agnes O'Casey) are also on the trip. Lily blames Chrissie for the death of her son. Dolly brings her mute little boy. Eileen's husband Frank Dunne (Stephen Rea) is angry to be left alone with the kids.

This is a dark story done with a lighter touch. It's trying to make jokes when it really needs to hit the darkness harder. It needs to explain these people's relationships earlier without doing the shocking reveal of their shared trauma. It's great to have Maggie Smith at her age. I don't like Kathy Bates for this. The movie is obviously trying to show her as the ugly angry wife stuck with a family. I don't get how she was Chrissie's friend. Linney is well over a decade younger than Bates. So Chrissie was a twentysomething when she told her almost forty year old friend Eileen. It could happen, but it would be so much more compelling for them to be the same age. They would be school friends who walked down different paths. Quite frankly, I would drop Frank after they leave on the trip. This should about the girls and nothing else.

Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates shine in their weighty roles but the story gives almost no depth for the character Laura Linney plays. She has been treated horribly decades ago, left Ireland and gone to America. Upon return, she is civil, even kind to those who turned on her. I could not sense her motivations except in the most general and superficial way (mother has died). What brought her to this point? Laura Linney has a genuine appeal, but she was given far too little to balance the intense and complex depth for the characters played by the other two stars.

The device of having three difficult marriages with varying degrees of strife that were healed by the wives going to Lourdes was incredibly cliched and absolutely unreal. I guarantee that the glow of the return would be lucky to last more than 48 hours, despite the implied promise of "forever after."

And the sweet moment with the mute child finally spoke vanished in a flash.

Irish Catholic stubbornness is the subject matter of this spiritual drama that has four women from Dublin in need of healing as they head to Lourdes on retreat. Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates are old friends mourning the death of an old friend, the estranged mother of Laura Linney who has returned for the funeral. They aren't exactly thrilled to see her, although Linney's old friend Agnes O'Casey is. The intertwined lives continue to intertwine as the secrets of the past comes out, revealing all sorts of other secrets.

I liked this well enough but there are a few choppy moments that should have been fixed. Bates tells off Linney drunkenly in one scene, immediately followed by another where they're all together, that moment overlooked completely as O'Casey has her big moment which is all about nothing. But there's lots of judgments followed by atoning from everyone so the four women each get a variety of emotions to play.

Smith doesn't get any acerbic lines which she's famous for, but as a backup singer in a talent show where Bates sings, she does provide a very funny visual. She is the initial source of conflict but that soon transfers to Bates, almost unrecognizable and providing a realistic Irish dialect. She reminded me of Smith's "Downton Abbey" sparring partner Penelope Wilton in this.

Brenda Fricker is unseen as the voice of Linney's mother. Had they not had the three famous leading ladies, this might have quickly gone to the BBC and been forgotten, but those names meant a cinema release. The scenes at Lourdes are beautiful although little pieces of dialog there seemed out of place. But for fans of Smith's, this is a must, a mark of 65 years of her on film.

Greetings again from the darkness. The Grotto of Massabiele in Lourdes, France is a major Catholic pilgrimage site, where each year millions visit to experience the healing powers of the flowing waters. Legend has it that in 1858 the Virgin Mary appeared to a local woman, turning this into a holy site. The healing powers of Lourdes plays a significant role in this film from director Thaddeus O'Sullivan and the film's co-writers Joshua D Maurer, Timothy Prager, and Jimmy Smallhorne.

It's unfortunate that the history of Lourdes and the lead performances offer the only points of interest in the film ... and what a shame that is. Ballyfermot in 1967 is a rural community on the outskirts of Dublin, and the parish priest, Father Byrne (Mark O'Halloran) has decided to carry on with the local talent show/fundraiser on the heels of the funeral of a beloved local woman. The Grand Prize for the talent show is tickets to the Lourdes pilgrimage, and a multi-generational singing trio of Lily Fox (Oscar winner Maggie Smith), Eileen (Oscar winner Kathy Bates), and Dolly (newcomer Agnes O'Casey) have their heart set on winning the pilgrimage. Each woman has her own need for the miracle cure: Lily has been carrying a burden for too many years, Eileen found a lump on her breast and doesn't trust doctors, and Dolly is the mother of a young boy who doesn't speak.

It's Chrissie's (Laura Linney) mother who recently passed, and Chrissie has returned to the community for the first time since leaving for Boston forty years ago. What's readily apparent is that the grudges being held by Lily and Eileen and Chrissie date back to that long ago time, and this is their only chance for reconciliation. But the wounds cut deep, or so we are led to believe. The problem here is that the film dances around the serious and dark psychological subject matter, and wants so much for this to be a heart-warming experience for viewers. And perhaps it will be for those who prefer to sit back and accept what's given, rather than expect fully developed characters and story lines.

Forty years of secrets and guilt and grudges is too heavy a load for anyone, and these women have relied on faith and religion to carry them through. There are bits and pieces showing the importance and value of friendship, compassion, and forgiveness ... although we see the flip side is good, bad, and ugly. The cast is outstanding and responsible for this being watchable, yet mostly we wonder why it remains surface depth.

Sony Pictures Classics plans to release the film in theaters on July 14th.

For a movie with the word 'miracle' in the title, there is little to support the idea. Irish village priest Father Dermot (Mark O'Halloran) attests to that fact when he states to a disappointed Eileen Dunne (Kathy Bates) - "You go for the strength to go on when there is no miracle" - after the matronly woman comes away from her dip in the bath at Lourdes without assurance that a lump on her chest has been removed. I felt the movie was awkward at times, especially when Bates' character had that meltdown in the church and started berating the priest and her friends. It was very unseemly, and even though she apologized the next day, she didn't take any of it back. And then, the admission by Lily Fox (Maggie Smith) to Chrissie Ahearn (Laura Linney) that she withheld her own son's avowal of love for Chrissie after the woman became pregnant and left for America struck me as a confession for the deaths of two people, her son and the baby in Chrissie's womb. It's said 'to forgive is divine' but that just struck me as a horrible thing to do and then seek forgiveness for. So, if you're watching this movie and expecting some 'aha' moment to justify the premise, you'll probably be disheartened. Even the young boy Daniel's (Eric D. Smith) finally uttering a single word is done in solitude with no witnesses, preventing the film from having even an upbeat ending.

My Review- The Miracle Club My Rating 10/10 I love Irish Cinema and this movie is a pot of gold and a masterclass in female ensemble performance from Maggie Smith , Laura Linney and Kathy Bates .

All three women have had spectacular movie and television careers with 3 Academy Awards and ten Oscar nominations between them.

This story is a sentimental journey set around Dublin and crossing to Lourdes the French village for pilgrims searching for miracles in the mid 1960's and it tugs at your heartstrings even if you're not religious like me.

It's a very different Ireland of today beginning in the village of Ballygar where the Catholic Church influences most of the social behaviour including a talent quest in honour of the recently deceased Maureen mother of Chrissie Ahearn .The winner wins a coveted prize of an excursion to Lourdes the village of miracles in France so three of Maureen's friends enter the talent show calling themselves The Miracles.

Expat Chrissie Ahearn returns home from Boston where she has lived for the last 40years after leaving Ballgar under a cloud to attend her mother Maureen's funeral.

Chrissie is played with charm and sensitivity by the wonderful Laura Linney who carries much more emotional baggage than is visible at first by her one suitcase.

She is certainly not welcomed home with open arms at first quite the opposite as her late mother's best friends judge her absence as a betrayal to her mother and friends .

Her late mothers friends include the elderly but worldly wise Lily Fox who has purchased the floral tributes for the funeral.

Lily Fox is played with skill and sensitivity by the wonderful Maggie Smith in a role I think that will be included in her finest movies.

Lily Fox is such a departure from her role in Downton Abbey as Violet Crawley Dowager Countess .

In The Miracle Club she plays an elderly woman who has suffered great loss that resurfaces when Chrissie returns to Ballygar .

No spoilers as this story needs to be experienced on a personal level but when Lily Fox , Eileen Dunn , (Kathy Bates ) Chrissie's once close but now spiteful tongued cousin and their young protege Dolly Hennessy played by ( Agnes O'Casey)win a trip to Lourdes in France each is seeking a miracle but not necessarily the one they expected . The Parish Priest Father Dermot Byrne (Mark O'Halloran ) who is leading the pilgrimage gently convinces Chrissie to join the tour much to the chagrin of Lily, and cousin Eileen .

They all leave their husbands behind to fend for themselves including young Dolly Hennessy accompanied by her young silent son Eric played by Eric D. Smith and on their return it seems like a miracle of reconciliation has truly occurred .

Some may ask why I give this movie a perfect ten like I gave Oppenheimer it's a simple answer that has nothing to do with Big budgets or Box Office bonanzas .

Perfection in my view can be in a small budget independent film with an estimated production budget of only EUR 8,900,000 because the script and the performances are perfection not only from the starring roles but from the whole ensemble cast. There are superb supporting character roles like Mark McKenna as Dolly's husband George Hennessy , Stephen Rea who is wonderful as Frank Dunne Eileen's husband who realises during her absence that he has taken his wife for granted .

Kathy Bates as Eileen Dunne is also truly amazing in her role she's so authentic as a feisty Irish housewife no one would believe she was born in Memphis Tennessee that's what I mean about a masterclass performance that delivers wit and emotional intensity when required .

Director Thaddeus O'Sullivan must have enjoyed his dream cast it shows in every frame of this fine movie .

The three scriptwriters Joshua D. Maurer, Timothy Prager and Jimmy Smallhorne have crafted a fine story with humour and pathos that unfolds gradually managing to avoid being over sentimental but I recommend that a few tissues may be required .

Famous Irish Academy Award winner Veteran actress Brenda Fricker has a vocal cameo providing the voice when daughter Chrissie reads a touching letter left for her from her departed mother Maureen.

3 stars of wholesome appreciation for the technical lighting and the grace of Laura Linney, who was beautifully portrayed throughout.

Otherwise, only a few moments of light hearted relief at the start showed promise amidst an excruciating journey of Irish Catholic toxicity. (I can say that).

Watch and enjoy this film if you have no experience or bias towards the systemic cruelty of Catholicism in Ireland in the 20th Century and its pervasive integration into later generations who continue to bear the cross.

If on the other hand, you are of Irish Catholic descent and are all too familiar with the cruel ideology of shame that was thrust upon "inappropriate" pregnancy and its outcomes, then do not watch this film if this matter is emotionally charged for you.

If you will be triggered by the impact of Suicide, fear of Breast Cancer or feel upset by the questionable portrayal of ASD; then do not watch this film.

Similarly if you are triggered and still trying to heal from Catholic guilt, misogyny, shame, and the ritualistic bullying that is inherent within the somewhat incestuous matriarchal cliques by the altar, then please believe me, stay at home.

I am really serious. The frivolous billing of this film is erroneous.