The bad : Vera Drake

Vera Drake, 2005

Directed by Mike Leigh

Nationality : British

Prices : 2004 Venice Film Festival - won Golden Lion for Best Film & Volpi Cup for Best Actress

Vera Drake is a British drama. It was written and directed by the British director Mike Leigh. It tells the story of a working class woman in the 1950’s, in London. Vera is just a working-class woman, loving mother and wife, but she also performs illegal abortions, when it was illegal at the time.

She’s not doing it for money, she just wants to help people in need. She can seem a bit insensitive when we see her practice her first abortion as she remains stony-faced while the girl she’s taking care of weeps and cries. But then, we just realize she protects herself. She knows what she’s doing and is very meticulous and discreet. But eventually, one of her patient almost dies while she practices the abortion, and she will then be arrested by the Police and judged. Her son and husband didn’t know about her secret activity and won’t be able to forget her.

The fact the story takes place in the 1950’s enabled the director to establish the moral base of the problem in an implicit way, without making a propaganda movie. Mike Leigh actually affirms that his goal is not to make conclusions, just ask questions. That is what the director intended to do. But of course, the film provoked many reactions. A woman who was a nurse in the 50’s affirmed that the technique used by Vera Drake in the movie (inserting a mix of soap and water in the woman’s vagina) is just impossible as it should be fatal. Another woman said she used that technique on herself and that obviously, it was efficient without killing her.

This film is very dramatic as while you get used to her practices and feel more and more close to that woman, she gets caught and everyone turns against her. Her arrest is pending on her, even the mise-en-scene, the way it is filmed – the image is very dark, the rainy and grey England itself gives you that feeling of insecurity – are elements that prepare you to the dramatic ending. Mike Leigh says he just wants to ask questions, without giving a point of view, but still, we are shown a old sympathetic woman, loved by all, who will in the end have everyone turning their backs on her…