Having just seen Grace onstage a few weeks ago, it was a pleasant coincidence to come across this little movie on Netflix. The Miracle Club is a comedy-drama about three Irish housewives who join a religious pilgrimage to Lourdes in France. As Lourdes is the place where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette, the three hope to find both physical and spiritual healing through the town’s miraculous waters.
Set in Dublin in 1967, the protagonists are steel-willed working class housewives. The oldest is the crotchety Lily (played by Maggie Smith) whose weak leg has made walking difficult. Middle-aged Eileen (Kathy Bates) has discovered a lump on her breast. Rather than consult a doctor she’d place her trust in Lourdes. The third is Dolly (Agnes O’Casey), a young mother of two. She isn’t ill but her six year-old son is speech-impaired. She’s hoping the miraculous waters can cure him.
The leading ladies must hurdle a few obstacles to get on the bus. Impediments include limited finances and stubborn husbands who insist that their wife’s place is in the kitchen. Taking part in a singing contest organized by their parish offers an opportunity. The prize is two tickets to the pilgrimage. We’re thus treated to a priceless scene with 89-year-old Maggie Smith doing back-up singing in a rock and roll number.
Eileen’s husband (played by Stephen Rea) insists the Lourdes miracles are a hoax
The husbands, who’ve long been beneficiaries of the pre-Women’s Lib era, are intractable. Eileen’s husband (played by Stephen Rea) insists the Lourdes miracles are a hoax. Meanwhile, Dolly’s young spouse (played by Irish heartthrob Mark McKenna) is completely ignorant of the miracles. She’s compelled to ask him if he’s heard of The Song of Bernadette. Her husband replies, “I haven’t. How does that song go?”
The situation has become desperate for the girls that they’re willing to leave their spouses for good. The plot thickens when the estranged prodigal daughter, Chrissie, of their recently deceased friend Maureen returns to Dublin to bury her mother. Apparently, Chrissie (Laura Linney) was involved in a scandal that caused the rift between her mother and two friends. Her return is met with contempt by the two older ladies. Unfortunately for them, Chrissie decides to join the pilgrimage. It’s in Lourdes where each woman gets to confront her demon.
The Miracle Club was penned by Jimmy Smallhorne, who based the premise on the people he grew up with and the Dublin neighborhood he grew up in. The story doesn’t overwhelm us like Grace did. What it does is simply teach us that miracles don’t happen in the way we expect them to happen. They can occur in simple ways, and they do give us the courage to strive to make our lives better, or to make amends for our mistakes.
It’s a wonderful lesson taught through the sensitive and unobtrusive direction of Thaddeus O’Sullivan and the expert acting of the cast. So viewers need not worry. This isn’t a story told in the vein of the Father Peyton’s old religious dramas, nor does it go the Barbie route by boring us with homilies on woman empowerment. This isn’t a laugh-out loud comedy too. Thaddeus O’Sullivan just stages the situations and some of them are funny because life can sometimes be funny. No music cues or mugging is required to induce audience laughter.
Likewise there are no dramatic confrontations. Old deeply held secrets are revealed, but these scenes weren’t designed to be Oscar clips. Laura Linney’s character has all her anguish bottled up, and the script doesn’t give her that chance to unleash it. Consequently, she’s upstaged by her co-stars who have such showier roles.
And what extraordinary co-stars they are. The great Maggie Smith again does her grumpy old woman shtick. She may be accused of merely repeating previous roles she played in Tea with Mussolini and Downton Abbey. In this film Laura Linney takes the place of Cher in the former and Shirley Maclaine in the latter as Smith’s adversary. But Smith is so brilliant she keeps us glued to her scenes. And there’s Kathy Bates who doesn’t try too hard with the Irish brogue so it doesn’t detract us from the impact of her scenes. (A scene’s impact at times gets diluted when a Meryl Streep adopts an accent because we can’t help but rave about how authentic she sounds.)
May I point out that this isn’t a landmark movie, yet I’d strongly recommend it. It’s not just because of the heartwarming conclusion. It’s interesting to see the procedures they follow when it’s time for the pilgrims to dip into the miraculous waters. The movie should also resonate with Filipino Catholics. Jimmy Smallhorne’s script shows that the Irish have something in common with us. This is especially true with the character played by Bates. She has that “bahala na ang Diyos” mindset when a crisis occurs.
As with Grace, I did empathize with The Miracle Club. I’ll start with Grace first. We had an aunt who was 23 years old in 1948. Her lovely face was suddenly hit by a terrible rash which no doctor could cure. She dragged her 21-year-old brother to drive her to Lipa. Her face behind a thick veil, she braved the crowds and washed her face with miraculous water. Her brother was furious. The water was dirty, he recalled. But days after, the face of his sister mended. She was very pretty again.
More than 40 years later, that same man was now suffering from a heart ailment. He visited Lourdes, but he refused to go into the miraculous water because it was too cold. This incensed his family since many of us would have gladly taken his place. I hope he doesn’t read this. Otherwise, his ghost will probably be haunting me.
