If you’ve already seen Philadelphia (1993, with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington), you’ll watch Freeheld and have a feeling of déjà vu. Written by the same screenwriter, Ron Nyswaner, Freeheld has all the elements of its predecessor: (i) it’s inspired by true events, (ii) the main character has a disease and enters into a legal battle while sick, and (iii) there is a lot of prejudice against homosexuals. Despite all the similarities, Philadelphia is superior, and I’ll try to explain why.

The year is 2003 and we meet Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore), a New Jersey police officer who falls in love with Stacie Andree (Ellen Page) and keeps the relationship secret, fearing her co-workers would treat her differently if they found out she was gay. Time passes and they move in together in a new house and they get a certificate of “domestic partnership”, since gay marriage wasn’t legal at that time. Her secret gets revealed, however, when she is diagnosed with cancer and wishes to leave her pension to Stacie but the town’s officials (“Freeholders”) don’t allow that.

As Tom Hanks in Philadelphia, we see Julianne Moore transforms physically as the disease progresses. She always gives great performances, but I felt like I enjoyed it more during the first act, when she was struggling to keep her relationship a secret. Ellen Page is also great, especially when she’s defied by her future boss who doesn’t believe she can work repairing cars because she’s a woman.

Having said that, the best character, in my opinion, is Dane Wells (Michael Shannon), Laurel’s partner in the police who struggles with himself when he finds out she’s gay, but ends up helping her. Steve Carell is also in the cast and he was very applauded by the audience in the session I was in. He definitely gave the film a lighter and funnier tone, since it’s clearly a tearjerker.

Philadelphia had a different effect on me because the characters involved are more complex: the audience knows why Tom Hanks’ character was fired, but the discussion is deeper than “because he’s gay”. In Freeheld, on the other hand, we see the “Freeholders” discussing Laurel’s request behind close doors and their decision is simple and fast, with no further questions (except for Josh Charles’ character). So, even though we all knew the ending to both films before they actually end, Freeheld felt like an old formula to me. Let’s wait and see if the audience and the Academy will have the same feeling…

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