Doubt

Theatrical Release Date: 2008 (USA) / 2008 10 17 (USA) / 2008 12 12 (USA)

UPC: 786936756203

Studio: Miramax

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Adult Situations]

Summary: When the principal (Meryl Streep) of a Bronx Catholic High School accuses a popular priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of pedophilia, a young nun caught in between the feuding pair becomes hopelessly swept up in the ensuing controversy. 1964, St. Nicholas, the Bronx: The winds of change are sweeping through this tight-knit religious community, and charismatic priest Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is doing his best to adapt by revisiting the school's notoriously strict disciplinary practices. Unfortunately Father Flynn's progressive ideas stand in stark contrast to the longstanding beliefs of Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the iron-willed principal, who believes that an oppressive environment of punishment and fear is the only way to keep the student body in line. Suddenly into this tempestuous environment appears young Donald Miller, St. Nicholas' first black student. When hopeful innocent Sister James (Amy Adams) reluctantly reveals to Sister Beauvier that Father Flynn and Donald have been spending an unusual amount of time together in the church rectory, the unrelentingly righteous headmistress begins a merciless crusade to reveal the beloved clergyman as a lecherous child molester and have him permanently expunged from the school. Yet despite her moral certainty that Father Flynn has committed such an unspeakable transgression, Sister Beauvier has not a shred of actual evidence to back up her audacious claim. Now, as Sister Beauvier and Father Flynn enter into an epic battle of wills, the shock waves set into motion by their explosive confrontation threaten to destroy one man's reputation and tear apart the entire surrounding community. John Patrick Shanley adapted his own play for the screen under the guidance of producer Scott Rudin (The Queen, Notes on a Scandal). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Supporting Actress – Houston Film Critics Best Actress – Broadcast Film Critics Association Breakthrough Performance by an Actress – National Board of Review Best Ensemble Cast – National Board of Review Film Presented – AFI Fest Best Supporting Actor – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actress – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actress – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Actress – Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Best Screenplay – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Ensemble – Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Detroit Film Critics Society Best Supporting Actress – Southeastern Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Screenplay – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Acting Ensemble – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Picture – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Actress – Detroit Film Critics Society Best Supporting Actress – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor – Screen Actors Guild Best Performance by a Cast – Screen Actors Guild Best Supporting Actress – Screen Actors Guild Best Supporting Actress – Screen Actors Guild Best Ensemble – Houston Film Critics Best Actress – Phoenix Film Critics Association Best Actress – London Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Actress – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Actress – Kansas City Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay – Writers Guild of America Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Moti – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Moti – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Actress – Iowa Film Critics Association Best Art Direction in a Period Film – Art Directors Guild Best Supporting Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Supporting Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Supporting Actor – Vancouver Film Critics Best Actress – Vancouver Film Critics Best Supporting Actress – Vancouver Film Critics Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Actress – Screen Actors Guild Best Picture – Dallas/Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Dallas/Fort Worth Film Critics Association

Features: Doubt: From Stage to Screen
Scoring Doubt
The cast of Doubt
The Sisters of Charity
Feature commentary with writer/director John Patrick Shanley

Doubt

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 04/07/2009

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DHHR null, DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 103 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Perry Seibert

Director John Patrick Shanley loves to deal with weighty philosophical themes, but thankfully, he knows how to do so through three-dimensional characters that make his grand ideas a part of everyday life. Doubt, his adaptation of his own award-winning play, offers a crystalline example of his remarkable gifts. The film stars Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius Beauvier, a no-nonsense Catholic middle school principal who watches over her students with steely eyes and a firm hand. She carries a simmering dislike for the popular priest Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) because his easy rapport with the students clashes with her old-school style. After Flynn delivers a sermon that suggests doubt can bring people together as much as faith, Sister Aloysius wonders why a man of the cloth would ever seek refuge in questioning God. Believing Father Flynn may be hiding something, Sister Aloysius asks history teacher Sister James (Amy Adams) to inform her if Flynn exhibits any strange behavior. Not long after, Sister James discovers that one of her students, Donald Miller, smells of alcohol after paying a private visit to Flynn in the rectory. Armed with this information, Aloysius campaigns to drum Flynn out of the parish. Although she could rest on her laurels as a living legend, Meryl Streep is always eager to take up a new challenge, and Doubt gives her the meatiest role she's had in a very long time. She inhabits Sister Aloysius with a self-assurance and authority that dominate the screen, except when matched by Hoffman's formidable physicality. He imbues Father Flynn with an all-encompassing charm and ease that makes it plain why his students adore him. Their battle with each other takes on a mythic Irresistible Force vs. Immovable Object quality. Like Sister Aloysius, we never see what transpires in the rectory between the boy and the priest, and because of this it's impossible to tell at any given moment who is right and who is wrong -- your sympathies vacillate between the two characters even after the story ends. However, those two are far from the only fascinating characters in the movie. The conflicted Sister James likes that Father Flynn expresses such kindness toward the students in general -- and this troubled boy in particular -- but Sister Aloysius is her mentor. Her struggle is one of the most obvious embodiments of the film's title. And Donald's mother, played to perfection by Viola Davis, leaves an indelible impression with very little screen time because her character radically changes the audience's perceptions of what's at stake when she reveals shocking information about the child's home life. But, for all the powerhouse acting, this is John Patrick Shanley's show, and he uses this movie to ask profound questions about belief and ethics. His final scene provides a genuine dramatic wallop that resolves the movie's central conflict, without answering these weighty existential questions. Because of this, Doubt satisfies the heart, and engages the mind. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Scott Rudin  Producer 
John Patrick Shanley  Director 
John Patrick Shanley  Screenwriter 
Howard Shore  Composer (Music Score) 
Celia Costas  Executive Producer 
Mark Roybal  Producer 
Meryl Streep  Actor 
Philip Seymour Hoffman  Actor 
Amy Adams  Actor 
Viola Davis  Actor 
Alice Drummond  Actor 
Audrie Neenan  Actor 
Joseph Foster II  Actor 
Susan Blommaert  Actor 
Carrie Preston  Actor 
John Costelloe  Actor 
Lloyd Clay Brown  Actor 
Mike Roukis  Actor 
Haklar Dezso  Actor 
Frank Shanley  Actor 
Robert Ridgell  Actor 
Frank Dolce  Actor 
Paulie Litt  Actor 
Matthew Marvin  Actor 
Bridget Clark  Actor 
Molly Chiffer  Actor 
Lydia Jordan  Actor 
Suzanne Hevner  Actor 
Helen Stenborg  Actor 
Tom Toner  Actor 
Michael Puzzo  Actor 
Margery Beddow  Actor 
Jack A. O'Connell  Actor 
Marylouise Burke  Actor 
Valda Setterfield  Actor 

Country: USA