Tea in Movies - Philomena

Today my hubby and I went to see the movie Philomena.  It's a Brisith-American drama based on Martin Sixsmith's 2009 non-fiction book, "The Lost Child of Philomena Lee."  It stars Judi Dench and Steve Coogan.   You may want to take tissues!

The movie's background is about a young girl who grew up in a small Irish village.  Her mother died when she was young, and her father put her and her three sisters in a convent. She left the convent at age 18 and went to live with an aunt.  While at a carnival/fair in Limerick she met a young man named John.  Living a sheltered life with nuns, she knew nothing about sex or pregnancy.  She became pregnant after her one-and-only meeting with John. Her father and aunt disowned her, and her brother [the only sibling who knew she was alive] got her into a convent orphanage at Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, County Tipperary. While there she gave birth to a son who she named Anthony.

In order to leave the abbey a family member had to pay £100.  Philomena's family was poor, and all but one thought she was dead.  She worked in the laundry from 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. in exchange for a small amount of time with her son.  The abbey sold three-and-a-half year old Anthony to an American family without Philomena's knowledge.  She was so traumatized by by his leaving that the nuns got her a job at a boys school run by their order in Liverpool, England. Later she became a nurse and met her husband [also a nurse].  They married and had two children.  She never discussed Anthony's existence until his 50th birthday.

The movie is about her search to find Anthony.  Tea is involved in the movie, and rightly so since the Irish drink between 4-6 cups of tea a day, among the highest per capita in the world.

[Internet Photos]

The movie is not a chick-flick.  It is an informative and sobering portrayal of many young Irish girls who found themselves in the same plight as Philomena in the early to mid twentieth century.