'Evelyn' is a worthy effort all round

Evelyn

Director: Bruce Beresford

Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Julianna Margulies, Stephen Rea, Alan Bates, Aidan Quinn, John Lynch

Cert: 12.

Brosnan continues his highly-personal films in a distancing from his more famous 007 roles.

This is a story based on a true event - though it is, ultimately, a film which plays around with the facts - in which, in the early l950s, a Dublin father, deserted by his wife, takes on the law in an effort to win back his family, taken into care by the authorities.

As the father, Desmond Doyle, Brosnan emerges as a flawed but lovingly determined man who cares for his family and is determined, in the face of seemingly impossible odds, to reunite it. It is another example of just how good an actor he can be.

The screenplay plays around with what was a landmark legal battle, but the essence of the emotional story remains strong and what faults there are - surprisingly many of them involving historic mistakes - are not overwhelming distracting.

The supporting cast is an excellent one, each contributing a different strength to what is essentially an old-fashioned film of the little man against the system. Rea is wonderful as Doyle's lawyer, Margulies equally so as the lawyer's sister and object of Doyle's desire. Quinn plays an American lawyer and Bates is particularly strong as a former legal legend now fallen on hard times.

Young Sophie Vavasseur, from Dublin, is a talented, indeed charming, Evelyn; and the film is a worthy effort all round.

Star Rating: 4/5