With a story that is simultaneously optimistic and saddening, Shona Auerbach's Dear Frankie is perhaps best described as the sort of film that makes you smile on a Bank Holiday afternoon spent with your parents. That may sound like a cynical introduction, but picture other charming ‘Sunday afternoon’ fare such as ITV’s Goodnight, Mister Tom (1998), and you may appreciate the compliment.
The film centres on the titular Frankie (Jack McElhone), a nine year-old deaf child, raised in Scotland by his single mother, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer). Frankie believes his father is away at sea, but when news comes in of his dad’s boat docking at the local harbour, it soon becomes apparent that Lizzie has been protecting her son from the truth. If she wishes to continue the charade, a stand-in will be needed; an apprehensive Gerard Butler, credited only as “The Stranger”.
A story about human connections, Dear Frankie hinges upon both writer Andrea Gibb’s restrained script and the understated performances of its cast. Emily Mortimer is suitably enclosed as a woman trying to come to terms with a life permanently unsettled, her sad eyes telling us that she is always thinking of Frankie’s wellbeing, even when searching the town for a new man. Butler also does well, first displaying near disgust at Lizzie’s deceit of her son, before becoming an image of genuine affection during his scenes with Frankie. Perhaps expectedly though, it is the young lead who proves most crucial. Lending Frankie a believable sweetness, McElhone’s performance allows events to progress without crossing the line into unconvincing. As Lizzie and The Stranger grow to trust each other, it is the lovable portrayal of the child between them that makes their connection plausible. Dear Frankie then, is something often unseen; a film that not only acknowledges the narrow gap between sentiment and mawkishness, but passes through it successfully.
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