Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, The (1987) – Nostalgia Central

Judith Hearne’s world is an unenviable one. Her memories of an invalid aunt who was not kind to her have, somehow in Judith’s rose-coloured mind, become cherished.

She has always had her faith and, in every new room she moves into – and there have been several – a picture of her aunt and of the Sacred Heart are the two essentials.

Men have been lacking in Judith’s life and, possibly in compensation, she has taken to drink. Over the years, this has been the cause of her many shifts of residence.

It is the 1950s, and when we first meet Judith (Maggie Smith), she is moving into her latest room in a boarding house in Dublin.

The landlady Mrs Rice (Marie Kean) and her lecherous son, Bernard (Ian McNeice), welcome her, but there is something lacking in their greeting – just as there always seems to be when people meet Judith.

She is someone whom they tolerate like the O’Neills do every Sunday when she visits them, announcing her arrival apologetically with “It’s only me”.

Another resident of the boarding house is the landlady’s brother, James Madden (Bob Hoskins), who has spent the past 30 years in America and is discontented with the backward ways of his homeland. He finds a soul-mate in Judith, whom he believes to have money.

Madden begins to ask her out, hoping to make her a partner in a scheme he has for an American-style fast food place in the city,

Judith believes she has finally found the right man for her and, when the truth about Madden’s intentions becomes painfully evident, it marks a turning point in her life.

She begins to question the existence of her God, and she realises that all that she has accepted, done and believed in in the past has not been the only way.

The combination of Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins is masterly casting.

Ms Smith is very rarely off-screen in a role that requires subtlety and a kind of resigned despair. She is, as always, magnificent. Bob Hoskins, in a smaller role, is no less impressive as the cocky brother on whom some of the American brashness and get-up-and-go has rubbed off.

His disappointment at his inability to put that motivation into action is almost as much felt as Judith’s,

Though it is his belief that she has money which first attracts Madden to Judith, there is a feeling that these two loners do, in fact, have much in common.

This is a crafted film from director Jack Clayton, whose cast also includes the matchless Wendy Hiller as Aunt D’Arcy and Prunella Scales as Moira O’Neill.

It is a sad romance which exists mostly in Judith’s mind, and Georges Delerue’s beautiful themes underscore it perfectly.

Judith Hearne
Maggie Smith
James Madden
Bob Hoskins
Aunt D’Arcy
Wendy Hiller
Mrs Rice
Marie Kean
Bernard Rice
Ian McNeice
Father Quigley
Alan Devlin
Mary
Rudi Davies
Moira O’Neill
Prunella Scales
Owen O’Neill
Kevin Flood
Una O’Neill
Catherine Cusack
Kevin O’Neill
Peter Gilmore
Shaun O’Neill
James Holland
Edie Marinan
Áine Ní Mhuirí
Miss Friel
Sheila Reid
Mr Lenehan
Niall Buggy
Sister Ignatius
Kate Binchy
Sister Mary-Paul
Martina Stanley
Mrs Mullen
Veronica Quilligan
The Major
Frank Egerton
Doctor Bowe
Leonard Maguire
Young Judith
Emma Jane Lavin

Director
Jack Clayton

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