reviewed by: Charity Bishop
           

The main hinge of Circle of Friends is something that's been done hundreds, even thousands, of times in literature and film. It revolves around the coming of age of a group of people, their experimentation with the opposite sex (and sex itself) and struggling to define who they are. It's really a coming of age story with the only major difference being its absolutely fantastic cast. Unfortunately, that's as much praise as I can offer this film, which is totally secular in its philosophies, contains heavy sexual content, and chooses emotion over morality.

Benny, Nan, and Eve have been friends since childhood. Benny (Minnie Driver) is the good natured, slightly overweight fun-loving Irish girl who just wants to fit in. Nan (Saffron Burrows) is the accomplished snob who believes boys are "to practice on" in preparation for real-life romance. Eve (Geraldine O'Rawe) is the good Catholic girl raised in a convent since her father's death. Her highest aspiration is to make good use of the cottage he left her in the Irish hills. Having newly completed school, the girls are ready for college life and all the excitement, romance, and temptation which comes with it. Nan has long been in Dublin and built up a reputation for being the local beauty, but her friends are swiftly swept into her world of glitz, glamour, and men. Jack Foley (Chris O'Donnell) is a five-star athlete with an excellent grade average, a beautiful smile, and a winning personality. Benny finds herself intensely attracted to him but because of low self-confidence over her weight, is afraid he'll never consider her a serious girlfriend. Her hopes are raised when he invites her to the local ball, but dashed when he dances with every girl but her. Almost in tears over her disappointment, Benny runs for the door only to be brought back to the dance floor by Jack, who has "saved the best for last."

From that moment on their relationship grows in leaps and bounds toward a promising future. But even their little romance is not without its pitfalls. Jack's father wants him to go into medicine, but the football star cannot stand the sight of blood. Benny's parents are also pressuring her to marry Sean Walsh (Alan Cumming), a slimy friend of her father's who reminds her of "a lizard." Added to this are her friend's trials. Nan has set her sights high on the only son of a local wealthy landowner (Colin Firth), but mistakes his physical interest for affection. Eve must also keep the charming Aidan (Aidan Gillen) at bay lest she commit "a mortal sin." As you might determine from the summary, all is not little redheaded leprechauns and gold at the end of the rainbow. Circle of Friends is a sometimes thought provoking look into the growing up process. Unfortunately it feels the need to encourage viewers to follow their heart rather than their faith. All three girls are Catholic, and each struggle with maintaining purity in their relationships with men.

Nan fails the most quickly, winding up between the sheets rather early on. Benny almost goes all the way but pushes Jack aside, then berates herself later for not having gone through with it. Eve does the best of the girls, refusing to give into Aidan's attempts to seduce her ("Aidan says it's his job to seduce try and seduce me, and mine to stop him") but it is implied she gives in to some groping after losing a game of checkers. The sexual content is very high, mostly in dialogue, conversation, and a few encounters where Nan goes to the cottage at night to engage in lovers' trysts. I won't burn your ears with evidence other than to say that sex comes up almost daily in the conversation of these otherwise charming young ladies. The script is rampant with it, from a teacher (played by Ciarán Hinds) defining the sexual appetites of natives in the African islands and comparing it to tight-nit Catholic morality, to the girls discussing whether or not the actual process is disgusting. There are several rather graphic scenes as well.

Two separate couples in different cars kiss passionately and writhe around in the backseat before stopping. (In each case the girl puts her foot down only after the man has his hand inside her shirt, but one of them agrees to meet her boyfriend in a hotel room.) A man watches a couple in the throes of passion through a window. He keeps nude pictures of girls in his room (the camera lingers briefly) and attacks the young woman who discovers them, trying to persuade her to sleep with him. A drunk girl at a party takes off her shirt to reveal a 1950's bra. Jack is also constantly after Benny to give in. Two of the "friends" cheat on their respective others together, one with an ulterior motive. I was also very disappointed in the ending, for while it praised Benny's keeping Jack at an emotional distance in order to have him gain her trust again, it also implies they sleep together. The terrible last line of the film is, "Father, I have sinned..." which is a tie-in with the film's overt anti-religious sentiments.

The church is not portrayed favorably, with sexist leaders (the priest preaches a sermon all about the evils of extramarital sex but places all the responsibility on the women to remain pure, as if men aren't equally charged) and "old fashioned ideals." Abstinence is not old-fashioned, nor is a faith in God. The characters all believe "God and Jesus still exist," but behave contrary to what their faith preaches. There's also some foul language (primarily four abuses of Christ's name) and several scenes in which Minnie Driver is upstaged by her cleavage. The one good thing the film has to offer is one of the girls refusing to have an abortion. It was absolutely astounding to see such a wonderful host of actors in their early twenties, but Circle of Friends is neither positive nor decent, which is really a pity because the filmmaking is lovely.