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The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

Screening on Film
Directed by Jack Clayton.
With Maggie Smith, Bob Hoskins, Wendy Hiller.
UK, 1988, 35mm, color, 116 min.

Clayton’s final theatrical feature centers on a fearless performance by Maggie Smith as an Irish spinster facing a future of isolation and poverty, an increasing reliance on alcohol and a crisis in the religious faith that has both sustained and limited her life. Clayton – who once described himself as an ex-Catholic – vividly illustrates his protagonist’s fury and despair as she struggles with the attentions of a widowed suitor and with a past she is powerless to change. The film’s power stems from Clayton’s and Smith’s refusal to make Judith Hearne a figure of pity; she has clearly played a part in the making of her own predicament. Instead, she is powerfully recognizable.

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