Based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, John Patrick Shanley's Doubt manages to say a lot by saying very little. Though its plot centres on a nun's (Meryl Streep) investigation of a priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) she suspects of sexually abusing a child, the most explicit word she ever uses is “advances.” Though it's set against the milieu of the black civil rights movement in the ’60s and Catholic Church hypocrisy, the most direct reference to these themes is when Hoffman's Father Flynn mentions in passing that he may draft a sermon on “intolerance.” Though it smartly modernizes this backdrop by adding an undercurrent of sexual repression, it's entirely possible that viewers will misinterpret (or just miss) the critical remarks and gestures that reveal it. And yet, as much as Doubt’s characters talk around their intentions, Shanley never does — the actions of his characters delicately state the premise of his argument, even when their dialogue doesn't. It's a rare film that's able to render complex ideas with poignancy and maturity while maintaining a classy sense of subtlety.
Besides the writing, the easiest element of the film to fixate on and shamelessly extol is the performances, specifically those by Streep and Hoffman. Streep plays a shrewd, tight-jawed nun, feared by all of the students of the Catholic school that serves as the film's setting, and though her snarling delivery is initially alienating, there are enough moments in which we see her confidence and resolve shaken that she never seems two-dimensional. It's a sophisticated part that, in the hands of a lesser actress, could have led to a lot of shallow scenery chewing. As Father Flynn, Hoffman plays Streep's adversary — a likable, open-minded priest who might have a dubious past — with all of his usual charisma, and though both carry their share of solo scenes, when Shanley puts them in a room together, the air crackles.
Besides the odd quibble, Shanley's adaptation has come under some limited critical fire for its “staginess” — a notion that should be dispelled immediately. Though he does show a little awkwardness behind the camera with some bizarre choices in shooting angles, the only notable traces of the stage left on the film are Doubt’s remarkable ability to fully realize a character in the span of a scene, its pregnant dialogue and its fat-free three-act structure. These might be characteristics emphasized more in a good theatre script than a good screenplay, but their effectiveness doesn't diminish in translation.
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