Freeheld
Freeheld
PG-13 | 02 October 2015 (USA)
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New Jersey car mechanic Stacie Andree and her police detective girlfriend Laurel Hester both battle to secure Hester's pension benefits after she was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

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Jeanskynebu

the audience applauded

Lawbolisted

Powerful

CommentsXp

Best movie ever!

Allison Davies

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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gradyharp

FREEHELD is a film that matters, a well acted and directed paean to a real life story of a lesbian couple and their fight for equal rights. Writer Ron Nyswander and director Peter Sollett have transformed the Oscar winning documentary into a deeply moving cry for equality for LGBT citizens. The film is made more worthy by the intensely dramatic performances by Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Michael Shannon and Steve Carell and a supporting cast that is spot on.This is first and foremost a love story between New Jersey police lieutenant Laurel Hester and her younger somewhat pugnacious domestic partner Stacie Andree). We witness Laurel's fine performance as a policeman who meets Stacie at a volleyball match and their love develops into a lasting one: their register as Domestic Partners. Laurel develops lung cancer, Stage 4, and must endure chemo and radiotherapy. Concerned about Stacie and the house they have reconstructed together, Laurel seeks her pension to be given to Stacie when the cancer wins. However the county officials, Freeholders, conspire to prevent Laurel from doing this. Hard-nosed detective and Laurel's work partner Dane Wells, and gay activist Steven Goldstein, unite in Laurel and Stacie's defense, rallying police officers and ordinary citizens to support their struggle for equality.At times the script becomes overly saccharine but because of the performances by the four leads the story hits you in the gut and the heart. It is a deeply moving film and one that deserves wide attention, especially during this time when the struggle for gay rights is changing the public perception of equality.

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Argemaluco

Like the recent film Carol, Freeheld portrays the romance between two women who are very different with each other in age and ideology, but with sincere emotions transcending any difference. And, also like Carol, Freeheld employs the romance as the framework of wider subjects, revealing the injustices committed against people who don't fit into the supposed standard of "normality" approved by society. But unlike Carol, Freeheld portrays true events which happened in this century, proving that there's still a long road to finish. The romance between the main characters of Freeheld feels honest and absolutely credible thanks to the precise screenplay and the wonderful performances from Julianne Moore and Ellen Page. Freeheld is a very well structured film, with a first half which perfectly establishes the situation, and a second one which reaches a high narrative eloquence while strengthening the drama without manipulating the audience. Besides of Moore and Page, the performances from Steve Carell and Michael Shannon are also worthy of applause, and their characters efficiently represent the complex political and social angles from the touching story. In conclusion, Freeheld is a brilliant film which deserves a very enthusiastic recommendation. And even though it didn't receive as much acclamation as Carol or Philadelphia, I personally found it much more powerful and memorable.

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851222

Greetings from Lithuania."Freeheld" (2015) is a movie based on a very real story. I won't go into plot details, but this is kinda inspirational story. The lead performance by Julianne Moore is great - you won't expect anything less from this caliber Oscar winner, and she delivers it. Movie itself isn't bad by any means, at running time 1 h 40 min it wasn't boring and i watched it in one sit, and that is not a bad sign. But movie-making wasn't original or exciting and etc. This is a very averagely told story, with any emotional deep (script lacks of it) or anything else for what i could remember this movie for longer then one day after i finished it.Overall, "Freeheld" is very watchable movie with no lasting impression. There are many well known faces in this movie, but they don't have much to do, script is very flat and predictable, directing is very simple. This is OK movie for one evening.

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David M Farrington

It's 2002 and we open on… No, wait, it's 2003 now. A year has gone by and… No, wait, she's typing "as per the law enacted in 2005" now but only a month has seemed to pass in the story and… Oh, screw it! I can't keep up anymore. Freeheld, the new movie from director Peter Sollett and Oscar nominated writer Ron Nyswaner, is a relevant film with a discussion about LGBTQ equality that must be had, though it has suddenly become not so relevant. The message is the star of the film and it seems as if Sollett and Nyswaner rushed to make the movie in time forgetting that at heart they are storytellers. They defaulted to the use of clichéd dialogue and stereotypical archetypes, mostly wasting the talents of a stellar cast to release a film that could have had so much more impact if seen just four months earlier, before the SCOTUS decision on Marriage Equality. What they forgot in their haste is that if the story is not told well, we become lost and the thematic elements become insignificant as we just don't care.Freeheld tells the moving true story of Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore/Still Alice, Boogie Nights), a highly decorated detective of the Ocean County, New Jersey Police Department who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Closeted at work in order to...Check out the full review on David 'n the Dark! https://davidnthedark.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/too-cliche-and-too- quick-to-care/

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