Atonement author Ian McEwen will soon have two of his books adapted for the big screen in the same year. The first is the Saoirse Ronan-led On Chesil Beach which is in theaters now, and at least in the U.K. there will also be The Children Act. The courtroom drama has been on the festival circuit since last year’s TIFF without making a ton of waves, but perhaps that will now change the release of this new trailer.
Directed by Richard Eyre (Notes On a Scandal) and adapted by McEwen himself, the film stars Emma Thompson as a high court judge married to her job, which is beginning to cause cracks in her marriage. Or a full-scale breakage after her husband (Stanley Tucci) says, “I don’t know how to say this, but I think I want to have an affair.” Her response is to go in to work and become emotionally invested in the case of a young boy (Dunkirk‘s Fionn Whitehead) who is refusing a blood transfusion due to religious beliefs.
The Children Act hits U.K. theaters this August but has yet to secure a U.S. date. This looks like a film that would find a tough audience over here, but I hope the quality of stars and McEwen’s past successes are enough to bring it our way.
