Sophie Vavasseur

Occupation

Actor

Evelyn Review

By David Levine

Extraordinary

I chuckled when I noticed that my preview screening for Evelyn was shown in a theater next to another theater featuring Die Another Day. At first I thought the theater was doing a tribute to Pierce Brosnan, but then I realized it was just a coincidence that he was starring in two movies at the same time in the same theater. I feared my view of Brosnan in Evelyn would be tainted because of his typecasting as the suave British spy. Much to my delight however, Brosnan effectively sheds his powerful alter-ego and turns in a warm and touching performance as an average, Irish working-class bloke in Evelyn.

Based on a true story that took place in the 1950s, Brosnan plays Desmond Doyle, a father of three young children who is left to care for the kids when his wife leaves him for another man the day after Christmas. This happens to coincide with another unsettling loss for Doyle - he's recently lost his job. Since he is unable to find work, the courts have taken his two sons and only daughter Evelyn (Sophie Vavasseur) and placed them in church run orphanages. When he finds suitable employment and tries to re-unite with his children, he finds his troubles have only just begun.

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