British drama film The Children Act
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act:
legge
is based on a novel by Ian McEwan, who adapted his book into its screenplay. The tenth film based on one of McEwan’s stories, the title refers to a piece of UK legislation introduced in 1989 that was designed to ensure
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to ensure:
garantire
that children under eighteen are protected by the law, even if that is contrary to parents’ wishes
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parents’ wishes:
desideri dei genitori
. The film, directed by Richard Eyre, was inspired by a number of a real life cases that were tried
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to try:
in questo caso, processare in un tribunale
by Alan Ward, a prominent former
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former:
ex
judge. Most courtroom
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courtroom:
tribunale
dramas centre on the criminal courts, but, as Ian McEwan explained, the family courts are where the real drama is.
Ian McEwan (English accent): I was at Alan Ward’s house for dinner one night and there were a few other judges sitting around the table, and what surprised and amused
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to amuse:
divertito
me was the extent to which
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the extent to which:
la misura in cui
they knew each other’s judgments. And they teased
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to tease:
stuzzicare
each other and they quoted
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to quote:
citar
each other... sometimes there are conflicting interests that collide
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to collide:
scontrarsi
and a decision has to be made and I thought ‘What a treasure this is’!
EMOTIONAL DRAMA
McEwan reimagined Ward as a female character, Fiona Maye, played by Oscar-winning actor Emma Thompson. Maye is a prominent judge in the High Court of Justice. Her job is to judge difficult cases, often involving
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to involve:
che coinvolge
children. Each presents an impossible moral dilemma, and to remain objective, a certain emotional distance is, for Maye, crucial. Yet when things start to fall apart
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to fall apart:
cadere a pezzi
in her marriage, she begins to make unusual professional decisions. With one case, involving a seventeen-year-old Jehovah Witness
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Jehovah Witness:
Testimone di Geova
who is suffering from leukaemia and refusing
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to refuse:
rifiutare
treatment, she takes the unorthodox step of visiting him in hospital. As Thompson explained, Judge Maye is surprised by what she finds.
Emma Thompson (English accent): She expects a child who has been sheltered
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to shelter:
protetto
and perhaps not very well educated. I think she has assumptions that are blown away
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to blow away:
saltato in aria
by this flame of life that she encounters. She’s someone who sits in court above everyone. [It’s] very difficult not to feel omnipotent in such a situation and suddenly when he faces her she has none of that
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none of that:
niente di tutto questo
and she doesn’t know what to do. It’s one of those strange borders where your personal life is very unbalanced
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unbalanced:
squilibrato
and then suddenly within the professional life you’re also faced with an extremely challenging personal relationship.
BEHIND THE SCENES
The film crew
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film crew:
troupe cinematografica
went to to go great lengths
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to go great lengths:
fare un grande sforzo
to recreate an authentic law court and re-enact
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re-enact:
ricreare
its proceedings. Sir Alan Ward acted as legal consultant on the movie and Thompson had unprecedented access behind the scenes at London’s Old Bailey, the name commonly given to the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales after the street on which it stands
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on which it stands:
su cui si erge
. The actor described the experience as a privilege.
Emma Thompson: Backstage
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Backstage:
retroscena
at the [Old] Bailey and in those places, only judges and their clerks
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clerks:
assistenti
are allowed to walk on the red carpet. It’s extraordinary, the arcane hierarchies within that system are amazing. They are these godlike creatures in their robes
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robes:
toghe
walking around with this extraordinary power and hardly
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hardly:
difficilmente
any women have that kind of power. So, you’re playing something very unusual.
MACHINES OF THE LAW
The UK has one of the lowest numbers of female judges in Europe, and Thompson was impressed by the superhuman way that both female and male judges ran
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to run:
gestionar
their personal and professional lives.
Emma Thompson: I watched them in action and I talked to them afterwards. They listen with their whole bodies, it’s determined
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determined:
risolto, determinato
listening. So you can understand why ‘silks
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silks:
sete (avvocato)
’ could get a bit nervous. It’s their task to listen and then calibrate and recalibrate the information that’s coming in. To combine that sense of power with compassion, with bringing up
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to bring up:
allevare
four children, for instance, getting up at four in the morning and doing all the work so that she could see the children off
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to see off:
dire addio a
to school: they are superhuman.
Emma Thompson: Unstoppable
Emma Thompson is one of the UK’s most accomplished
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accomplished:
affermata
and best-loved actors, and the only person to receive Academy Awards for both acting and writing. Born in London in 1959 into an acting family, Thompson attended Cambridge University, where she performed with its acting troupe
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acting troupe:
gruppo di attori
, Footlights
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footlights:
luci di scena
. On graduating, she met with immediate acclaim for her role in the BBC TV series Fortunes of War. Her first film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy, opposite American actor Jeff Goldblum, and she appeared that same year in Kenneth Branagh’s screen adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Henry V (1989).
In the 1990s, Thompson was a regular
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regular:
abitual
on the red carpet: in 1993, she won an Academy Award for her role as Margaret Schlegel in Howards End, a film adaptation of the E. M. Forster novel. The following year she was back in Hollywood with nominations for her role as a housekeeper
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housekeeper:
governante
in The Remains of the Day, based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, and as a lawyer in the biographical drama In the Name of the Father. In 1995, she was back again, collecting a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for the film Sense and Sensibility, based on the Jane Austen novel, in which she also starred.
In the 2000s, Thompson focused on supporting roles
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supporting roles:
ruoli di supporto
: she featured in the acclaimed Angels in America (2003), an HBO miniseries about the 1980s AIDS
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AIDS:
SIDA (acronimo di sindrome da immunodeficienza acquisita)
epidemic, and appeared as the eccentric teacher Sybill Trelawney in two of the Harry Potter films. She was further acclaimed for Last Chance Harvey (2008), a romantic drama film also starring Dustin Hoffman. Her headlining role as the author P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks, starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, was called “impeccable” by critics, and Disney fans will recognise her as Mrs. Potts in the blockbuster
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blockbuster:
successo cinematografico
Beauty and the Beast, with Emma Watson in the lead
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in the lead:
nel ruolo di protagonista
.
Thompson’s sense of humour saw her pick up
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to pick up:
accettare
a part as Agent O in Men in Black 3 and its recent sequel Men in Black: International. And last year she was back again, playing a topical role as the politician Vivienne Rook in the startling BBC/HBO miniseries Years and Years.
In real life, Thompson is sharp
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sharp:
acuto
, extremely smart
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smart:
intelligente
and down to earth
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down to earth:
con i piedi per terra
. In a recent interview, she called dieting
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to diet:
fare la dieta
her “big regret
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regret:
rimpiangere
in life” and the #MeToo movement “a wonderful moment of clarity”! She is a vocal champion
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champion:
defensora
of human rights and environmental causes, and a role model for younger actors, who cite her courage, candour
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candour:
onestà
and extraordinary talent as inspirations.