Eleanor & Colette

Eleanor Rise (Helena Bonham Carter) suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. She knows she needs help from doctors, that only with medication could she live anything like a normal life. But the psychiatric hospital seems to be all about keeping her quiet. The only way Eleanor sees to get a say in her medication is to go to court. Dedicated lawyer Colette Hughes (Hilary Swank) is supposed to help her. But although Colette gives it her all, she seems powerless against the all-powerful pharmaceutical industry. It's almost a miracle that she makes it all the way to the Supreme Court with this case. But that doesn't mean the battle is won.

Danish director Bille August (The Haunted House, Night Train to Lisbon) tells a truly fascinating, because true, story in his latest drama, Eleanor & Colette. Actually, the film is strictly a typical courtroom drama, the usual David vs. Goliath battle you've seen so many times before. But what makes this story so special is the unusual friendship between two very different women that develops in the course of the fight against the injustices in the health care system. Thus, the film not only offers a dramaturgically interesting level, where you as a viewer are rooting for Eleanor Rise to succeed in bringing an overpowering opponent to his knees with the help of her lawyer. There is also an emotional level that emerges, which makes for some very moving moments.

No question: the story is interesting, involving and stirring. There's also no doubt that the whole thing is superbly acted by Helena Bonham Carter in particular, but also by Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Tambor. Still, there's one BUT: the staging feels very much like a TV movie of the week. This is especially noticeable with the imagery, which has been Bille August's great strength in many other works. Somehow the film seems out of place on the screen, as if it was actually conceived for the screen. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad film. There really isn't much to fault the film for. But at the same time, there's just no real reason why you need to see it in the cinema.

If you like gripping courtroom films and dramas based on true stories, you won't regret buying your cinema tickets if only because of the two strong leading actresses. But if you expect more than good entertainment on TV level, you might be disappointed by the somewhat too conventional production. Hence the following verdict: Worth seeing - but only with restrictions

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp