Red Joan has the premise, the story, and the actors to pull off a great little spy thriller, but somehow misses the mark on all fronts. I often enjoy films described as a “slow burn,” but proper pacing and an effective ending must be part of the equation. Red Joan has neither.
The story (based on a novel by Jennie Rooney which is in turn based on the real life of Melita Norwood, a known Russian agent) is one that deserves telling and should have made for a fascinating decades-long tale of deception, politics, and espionage. Instead, we get an improperly paced mish-mash of half-motives, schoolgirl crushes, and an ending so flat it needs to be scraped off the road with a shovel.
The incomparable Judi Dench plays Joan Stanley – a woman in her 80s who is arrested for treason at her suburban London home. The bulk of the film, however, takes place in flashback, starting just prior to England’s involvement in World War II when she begins chumming around with communist sympathizers. Young Joan (Sophie Cooskson) is eventually talked into using her position at a top-secret research laboratory to pass British nuclear secrets to Russian operatives.
As I said, the premise is great, but the set-up is sorely lacking. The film inexplicably supposes that Joan’s initial motivation for committing treason – an offense punishable by hanging – is to impress a boy. Strides are taken to ensure us that she has her own motives outside of this, but they fall short. Every move she makes is continually at the behest of or in the interest of one suitor or another. Her attempted explanations to the contrary are too little too late, as the film has already defined her as a schoolgirl with a crush. At times, Red Joan appears to be on track, with the title character making strides for women in the workplace and rallying against the men she often seems subservient to. But then, just like that, she’s back to doing what they say and having her poor little heartbroken. It’s as confusing as it is disappointing.
Couple this with the poorly executed (and frankly wasted) flashback format and we’re left with an unfortunate bore that really could have been something of interest. The acting is fine, but I’m left wondering what could have been possible. Dench is more than capable of pulling off an Oscar-worthy performance had the film been set up and told better. Even with the exact same script, pacing changes and better execution could have made Red Joan something quite special. It’s a shame, too, because the story is worth being told.
James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.