This extraordinary film is based on the novel Push by Sapphire and when it screened at Sundance this year it was actually known as Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire. The name was changed to Precious due to producers not wanting to cause confusion with the Dakota Fanning flick Push (two more opposite movies you couldn't hope to find). Sundance was certainly the first time I had heard the buzz, that has been growing ever since, about the film and it won handsomely in Utah taking home the Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic, the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, and A Special Jury Prize for Acting.Precious is a no holds barred story that takes place in Harlem, 1987 following the life of obese, illiterate, teenage mother Clarice 'Precious' Jones. Born to sexually abusive parents both her Down Syndrome daughter and the baby that she is pregnant with when we meet her are conceived through rape by her own father. While we only meet the man in the briefest of flashbacks, her pregnancy in the film is a constant reminder of the abuse she suffered and lives with day to day. The story begins as Precious struggles in school, unable to read or write in a learning environment that dooms students to failure. In addition to her nihilistic educational experience Precious has to endure her abusive (verbally, physically and sexually) mother day to day in the dark, impoverished apartment they share. Her mother Mary is a woman so beaten down by life that she sees her daughter as the root of all her misery. Incredibly and sadly believably her mother even blames Precious taking away the attention that should have been paid to her from her boyfriend when he raped his own daughter, a concept so challenging as an audience member you struggle to process what you are hearing. I am struggling to come up with another character so monstrous in any other movie that has been so based in reality and what we know happens day after day in todays America. It is a truly stunning performance by Mo'Nique and surely one of the most daring and rewarding casting choices we have seen in any recent film.
Now and then we are offered chinks of light in the darkness that is Precious' life and one comes in the shape of an alternative school that will take her in to give her a chance to gain a basic education. It's here she meets her teacher Ms Rain, played by Paula Patton (Swing Vote, Mirrors), who accepts Precious into a small class of girls with troubled backgrounds. It's the first time in her life that Precious has been given a chance to really be heard and this is where we see her start reveal the possibility of who she could be if only given a chance. Moments like these in the film showcase the startling talent of first time actress Gabourey Sidibe who plays the character of Precious with such seeming ease that you would assume she is a veteran of her craft. While the supportive environment of the class isn't the end of her problems it offers an escape from the utter dreadfulness of home and eventually serves as a catalyst for Precious to make lasting positive change in her life.
To go into any more detail will be too full of spoilers so let's leave it at that for the story itself and discuss an equally interesting aspect of this film which are the performances director Lee Daniels coaxed from Sidibe and Mo'Nique. Rarely do you see actors stripping themselves down to the seemingly bare bones to portray a character. Yes, you often hear pontification about how someone had to reach inside themselves to play a certain role but if you see this film you will know it's unlikely they went as deep as these two women surely had to reach to play their respective parts. Not only mentally but also physically, particularly for Mo'Nique who bravely showed us a woman breaking down in so many ways, morally, physically and mentally to convincingly deliver lines so unpleasant that in the final scenes of the film I was genuinely troubled. Not that you see anything particularly graphic on screen but the truth of this film is so strong that an actress delivering lines in front of a camera was far more disturbing than the visceral fantasy shocks i sat through while watching Von Trier's Antichrist in September (recognizing a comparison of these two films is obviously null and void).
Mentions should also go to a strong supporting cast made up of some interesting names including Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd and what I believe is the acting debut of Grace Hightower (wife of Robert De Niro). While the afore mentioned played their parts well enough it was actually the lesser known actresses who made up Precious' classmates that really caught your eye. Like Sidibe these are unknowns who seem totally at ease in their roles and frankly don't appear to be acting at all so natural are their performances.
Precious is hard to watch in parts but I still hope a lot of people see it. It's a revelation in terms of an acting showcase but more than that the character of Precious written by Sapphire has been recreated with real care and understanding and this movie is rewarding in ways that will stay with you long after you have left the theater. I just finished the book before I saw the film and it's rare in my experience that a movie can do a better job but Daniels has at the very least matched the potency of the written word and may have indeed surpassed it.
Rating: *****
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