VERA DRAKE

“Vera Drake” is a movie that deals with the issue of abortion without a single mention of religion or God, and in doing so it avoids being judgmental and manipulative. Its most eloquent element is the silence. At times the silence gets so thick and unbearable, that you pray for the characters to break it, lest their hearts break. Yet they remain silent, and you start to feel the lumps in their throats that prevent them from spitting out their bitterness and sadness. From time to time the music score pierces the quiet, yet it offers no catharsis because it sounds like a wail of a mother weeping for her lost baby.

The movie takes place in post World War II London, where almost every family lost somebody dear in the war. The family of Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton) survived intact, and the four of them live happily in a cramped apartment, where the only decoration is the floral wallpaper and a few mirrors trying to make the space look bigger. Vera has a permanent smile on her face, which offers comfort to everybody around her. The smile is there when she cleans upscale houses, when she prepares tea for her sick neighbors and her mother, and even when she “helps out” young girls out to terminate their pregnancy. She never asks for money for the “helping out”, so at times we wonder if somebody can look and act so naïve in the face of such serious issues. Yet Imelda Staunton makes Vera believable, as her life flows smoothly from one prepared cup of tea to another, from one abortion to another.

Vera’s smile vanishes in a blink of an eye when the police show up at her door, questioning her about an almost fatal abortion she performed. As Vera turns her back on the policemen, we see her threefold reflection in a foldout mirror, and this “triptych” becomes a symbol of her disintegration. From this point on, the pace of the movie changes. The shots become shorter and the cuts become more abrupt. Time no longer flows, but jumps uneasily from one scene to another. We see Vera in close-ups that isolate her from her family and leave her alone with the horror that develops in her eyes. Even when she is in a long shot with other people, the others are rarely in focus, and there is always a background or lighting contrast that emphasizes Vera’s distance.

Flowers are a recurrent motif in “Vera Drake”. They are everywhere, from the wallpaper in the cramped apartments, to the dresses and jewelry of the women, to the real bouquets and stained glass in upscale houses and restaurants. Yet, these flowers do not brighten up the setting, as they are either too dark, or have a sickly yellow color, and they are strangely evocative of funeral flowers. The flower motif serves as a bridge between the two different layers of society, reminding us that everybody, rich or poor, has common needs, be it flowers, or medical help. Yet, just like the rich people substituted the floral wallpaper with fresh bouquets, they can afford to substitute Vera’s illegal services with an expensive but legal abortion.

Director Mike Leigh never lets the symbols speak loudly. He conveys his meaning through carefully watching his characters, showing their state of mind through facial expressions, pauses, and sudden bursts of emotion, such as when Vera’s son confronts his parents and refuses to forgive his mother for what she did. Perhaps the most interesting subtext, that could shine a light on Vera’s motivations and behavior, comes through a question from the police officer that Vera never answers explicitly. Was she “helped out” as a young girl?