Julianne Moore And Ellen Page Premiere ‘Freeheld’ At TIFF

That helped Moore film a poignant scene in Freeheld, where Andree holds Hester in her arms and uses clippers to tenderly remove the final, wispy remnants of the painfully frail woman’s hair. It’s a touching performance, right down to the haunted eyes, the gaunt, ashen face and the post-chemo hair loss. That latter section unfolds this time not in a courtroom, but in the cinematically moribund forum of New Jersey’s county legislature, known in the state as freeholders. Shannon, playing Laurel’s work partner, Dane Wells, provides a nifty parallel to the person Laurel chooses as her life partner, Stacie-what he possesses as an actor, and what he infuses his character with, is a fascinating ability to convey so much going on beneath the surface.

Luckily, a more accurate and compelling depiction of Laurel and Stacie’s battle can be found in the Oscar-winning documentary short from which this movie was based on. Hester was a 23-year veteran of New Jersey’s Ocean County police force when she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. However, she’s so guarded against being exposed as a lesbian that she crosses the state line into Pennsylvania to join a women’s volleyball team in the hope of finding a girlfriend. It documents every step of Laurel’s inexorable deterioration; first her hair falls out, then her voice withers into a whisper, and soon she’s a husk of her former self. She died in 2006 at the age of 49, and it began the fight for equal rights for her partner, Andree. Stacie, in particular, is thinly drawn. “It’s hard to get invested in fairly unremarkable, underdeveloped characters when they feel more like pawns in a larger, if well-meaning, political agenda”. And Josh Charles has several strong scenes as the one Freeholder sympathetic to Laurel’s plight.

The fight to put enough public pressure on the board to get them to reverse their decision drives Sollett’s “Freeheld”, though the film also spends lots of time on the relationship between Laurel and Stacie. But truth be told, the developments follow a predictable path and the battleground of municipal politics is low on sparks. And due to their struggle and courage, they were at the forefront. But all the conviction the actors can muster can’t make this script feel less pat.

“The gay male community had Philadelphia, but female couples have not had this movie”. Shannon’s superb (and dryly hilarious) as the no-nonsense Jersey cop who receives a fast education in gay rights after Laurel finally comes out to him. And the score? Not Hans Zimmer’s most memorable work. But this is a small, decorous movie laboring under the misapprehension that it’s a bold, important one.