Manuel here eager to discuss the new trailer for Julianne Moore and Ellen Page's upcoming lesbian drama, Freeheld. Nat is swamped off-blog today so it's up to me to rush in to talk about this (ugh watermarked!!) trailer that premiered last night. We all know where the TFE readership will fall in pre-viewing collective excitement about Peter Sollet's film about the legal fight of a local cop with the Ocean County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders over her pension benefits transferring to her domestic partner after she's diagnosed with lung cancer. But that won’t stop us from submitting it to our handy Yes No Maybe So test, and typing YES several times in the next couple of paragraphs.
The breakdown and trailer after the jump...
Hey can I have your number?"
Yes. We open with a meet-cute (at volleyball no less!) and follow it up with a lighthearted scene during a stakeout that allows Michael Shannon and Julianne Moore to show what great scene partners they make.
If you could have anything what would it be?"
Maybe so. All films about disease and death are required to start with sunniness but might it be too cloying? The idyllic beach setting and the dialogue certainly edge it that way but let's cop it up to the brevity required by the trailer format
Me too."
Yes. Trust Julianne to bring us right back; look at the weariness in her eyes even as she utters a hopeful line
Yes. Chemistry-wise it looks like Page & Moore are in fine form. Seeing great actresses play off of one another is always a cause for joy. We don't see it often enough. Between Rooney & Cate, Julia & Nicole, Kate & Judy, and the Suffragette gals we are headed for an Actressy Fall!
Maybe So. "Inspired by True Events"; we get it, but the trailer (and marketing) may lean on this too heavily when it looks they have a solid film without overstating that. I will say, this looks glossier than I'd have pictured it; Maryse Alberti (of The Wrestler and Velvet Goldmine) shot it.
Maybe So. Exposition-heavy dialogue now walking us through the plot. These scenes always play better in context rather than as Cliff Notes for moviegoers, no?
I've never asked for special treatment. I'm only asking for equality."
Yes. Those of us who watched Still Alice know that Moore on a lectern is spellbinding. Might the performances be what pulls this from being anything more than a "Very Special TV Movie"?
Double YES:
I am not a radical; I am a middle-class Jewish homosexual from New Jersey. How about you, sweetheart?"
I am a straight, white, ex-Protestant, atheist cop. You okay with that, sweetheart?"
Yes. May Carrell & Shannon embrace lighthearted performances more often; the former's a pro at them but seems to think "prestige" equals drab drama, and the latter is often so captivating in full brooding mode that it's refreshing to see him so loose.
Maybe So. "In 2005, Laurel Hester taught the world that love is love." Am I just cranky that I find this type of rhetoric sort of... unseemly?
Yes. Thankfully the film offers us a strong Page to counteract that tagline; this is a personal project for the actress who has, since her breakout role in Juno, come out and become a brave member of the LGBTQ* community. From what little we see her she's definitely eager to show what she can do with demanding material like this.
"Is that a proposal?"
YES. Moore's raspy voice is all sorts of YES!; even in the zingiest moment of the trailer you can feel her gravitas.
YES!!!!! Your daily reminder that Julianne Moore is an Academy Award winner! (And yes, I may or may not have cropped out that pesky watermark; nothing should distract you from seeing those words flash on the screen)
Page YES! Shannon YES! Adorable Moore/Page: YES AND YES. Though am I the only wondering why Carrell (another Academy Award nominee) doesn't make it to the credits? Is his role more of a cameo?
Then it's too much too screencap but the music swells and the drama amps up with Josh Charles wanting to be the voice of reason and we end with the couple that began it all:
"All I want is justice for the woman I love."
Overall, as you can guess, I am a YES even if the marketing is surely working some weepie/zeitgeisty/human spirit narrative that comes off a tad too contrived. I half expected a brazen hashtag to pop up at the end of the trailer and... Oh. There is! (#LoveisLove). Not that that’ll stop us from cheering on Page & Moore when this comes out in October.
Did the trailer make you more assured about this film's chances, Oscar and otherwise or less?