Freeheld (Metro) has the feel of a long-ago time, but it all happened only 10 years ago.
FREEHELD
Director: Peter Sollett
Cast: Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Michael Shannon, Steve Carell, Josh Charles, Luke Grimes
Rating: (M)
Four stars (out of five)
Julianne Moore plays tightly wound cop Laurel Hester, who has devoted herself to the job for 20-plus years.
She is at ease with her sexual identity at a lesbian, but keeps it on the low-down because she knows it will hamper her career if she was upfront about it.
Then she meets a younger woman, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page), they fall in love and one of their issues is how ''out'' they become.
In time they buy a house together, get a dog, register as domestic partners and disclose the true status of their relationship to Laurel's police partner Dane (Michael Shannon).
They live a quiet, contained life of domestic normalcy.
However, their bubble of happiness is shattered when Laurel, a heavy smoker, is diagnosed with lung cancer.
An analytical thinker, Laurel assesses the situation, knows that she is not going to make it and decides that the most important thing for her is to have her pension entitlements left to Stacie, as would automatically happen if Stacie was her husband.
While the legal battles commence, the movie is about three strong performances.
Moore and Page are fine as romantic partners, but in some ways Laurel's professional life is more compelling, and Shannon, who is such a large part of her life, had me ruminating about what being a cop means as much as about the social issues.
- Christine Powley
