A runny nose and teary eyes. These are the bodily gestures that mark an indelible moment in “Doubt,” director John Patrick Shanley’s adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
And they don’t belong to titans Meryl Streep or Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Instead, on a path through a housing project in the bitter chill of a Bronx morning in 1964, they seem the sole possessions of a mother who has learned that her son may — or may not — have been molested by a priest at a parochial school. Mrs. Miller’s son, Donald, is the first black child to attend St. Nicholas.
The stream of mucus that actress Viola Davis wipes away couldn’t possibly be seen from the rafters. Her physical distress reminds audiences of the fine collaboration that camera and actor are capable of: They uncover details, making them large and heartbreakingly tender.
The bearer of the jarring news is Sister Aloysius Beauvier. The principal of St. Nicholas School is played with stiff resolve by Streep. Hoffman is Father Brendan Flynn, a genial priest who embodies the changes taking place in the church after Vatican II.
Streep plays the widow- turned-nun with unfortunate rigidity. Her costume enforces that choice of tough old bird. Spectacles accentuate her beak. Her bonnet seems to hide her face even as it makes it unavoidable. The headdress hints, too, at a kinship between Catholicism and Puritanism.
In the pulpit, Hoffman captures his character’s charisma best. An early homily on the lonesomeness of uncertainty is resonant with the social upheavals of the 1960s.
A later sermon on innuendo is even richer. Though by the time the camera delivers its vivid expression of the sermon’s simile, Flynn’s craft invites skepticism.
Is his parable about gossip authentic — or just rhetorically ingenious?
Amy Adams plays Sister James. The hopeful novice teacher doesn’t want to believe her superior’s fears regarding Father Flynn. Yet she is the catalyst of the moral duel when she tells Aloysius she may (or may not) have seen something untoward in the priest’s interaction with Donald Miller.
In a film meant to keep us guessing, evidence is circumstantial. Contrasts are the opposite of clues.
In near-silence, the nuns consume supper, with Sister Aloysius setting the glum tone. In a din of convivial, even off-color chatter, the priests drink scotch, smoke cigars and consume a bloody roast.
Where Sister Aloysius seeks to maintain a divide between clergy and congregants, Flynn wants to forge the bonds of family.
Scenes act as Rorschach blots. They tease our biases about gender politics in the Catholic Church. Why doesn’t Father Flynn’s respect extend to Sister Aloysius?
They gnaw at our anxieties about intimacy between adults and children. Is that a hug or a come-on?
One of the things that changes the stakes dramatically is the presence of children. In the four-character play, they are alluded to. Here, they are fresh- faced or bullying or, in the case of Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II), gentle and adrift.
It would require tremendous denial on the part of moviegoers to ignore the past decade of lawsuits the Catholic Church has been beset by because of pedophile priests. Perhaps this is why “Doubt” seems to come down hardest on Sister Aloysius. After the media’s spotlight on so much darkness, the film must knock our own certainty about those narratives of abuse on its heels.
In anticipation of the movie, one probably would not have picked Davis as the cast member most likely to deliver the powerhouse moment.
Not because the actress spends scant minutes on screen. Rather because in the play, her character seemed more a dramatic device than a flesh-and-bone human. It wasn’t only her race that made it feel like Shanley was making a point. It was her hard-to-buy reaction to Sister Aloysius’ suspicions.
In the movie, she is still black. She still responds in a dismaying way. Yet Davis — just nominated for a Golden Globe for the turn — makes her character utterly human.
Her runny nose and tear- streaked cheek speak a mother’s grief but also a child’s hurt.
In the midst of a cast that should have wowed more, in the midst of a film that could have rattled more, Davis’ sorrow upends all.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@ ; also on blogs.denverpostcom/ madmoviegoer
“Doubt”
PG-13 for adult themes. 1 hour, 44 minutes. Directed by John Patrick Shanley; written by Shanley based on his play; photography by Roger Deakins; starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis. Opens today at the Mayan.
