Gifted
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| Photo of DVD cover taken by Kate Dorsey |
Seven-year-old Mary Adler (Mckenna Grace) is not an ordinary girl. She has been raised by her uncle, Frank (Chris Evans), since she was a baby. Her mother, Diane, Frank’s sister, commit suicide, leaving Mary in Frank’s care. He left his professorship in Massachusetts and moved Mary to Florida for a new life.
Frank relies on the help of his neighbor, Roberta Taylor (Octavia Spencer), with raising Mary. In fact, it is Roberta who objects to Mary going to school. She senses something will go wrong. The truth about Mary will be discovered, and nothing will go well from there.
The truth about Mary is she is a mathematical genius, as her mother was. This gets discovered on her very first day of first grade by her teacher, Miss Stevenson (Jenny Slate). Miss Stevenson will be referred to as Bonnie by Frank later on.
Bonnie tries to bring Mary’s ability to Frank’s attention, but he brushes it off. He knows full well what Mary can do, but he sent Mary to school to have a normal childhood. He does not want extra attention brought to Mary. He does not want what happened to his sister to happen to his niece.
Eventually, there isn’t a way to keep Mary’s ability quiet. When she breaks the nose of an older boy who is picking on a boy in her grade, the principal, Principal Davis (Elizabeth Marvel), takes notice. Bonnie informs her about what Mary can do, and Principal Davis tries to get Frank to send Mary to a special school. Frank refuses. Principal Davis then goes behind Frank’s back to get what she wants. Not for Mary’s sake, but for her own glory.
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| Mathematics/Artwork by Kate Dorsey |
Because of Principal Davis’ actions, Frank’s mother, Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), shows up. She has never shown interest in Mary before. Now that she knows what Mary can do with math, she wants custody. Frank knows Evelyn simply wants to exploit Mary’s ability, just as she did with Diane. To settle the matter, they go to court.
Neither
Frank nor Evelyn come out as shining examples as to who should have custody of
Mary. At least not to a judge who doesn’t know them. Evelyn goes so far as to
bring Mary’s father, Bradley Pollard (Keir
O’Donnell), to the stand. She does this so he can claim to be the rightful
guardian, and as the rightful guardian he grants custody to Evelyn.
There’s
just one problem with this. Bradley has never met Mary. He has never looked for
her. Or at least not very hard. This comes out quickly, killing his claim of
guardianship and ability to designate custody. It also makes Evelyn look very
bad for trying this ploy.
Frank
looks bad because of an arrest record he has. The incident with Mary and the
broken nose does not help either.
With
the judge’s decision uncertain, Frank’s lawyer encourages him to let Mary go to
foster parents with visitation rights. Reluctantly, and thinking it better than
Mary going to Evelyn, Frank agrees.
Except,
things do not go as planned, or agreed. The foster parents deny Frank access to
Mary. They claim Mary is too upset to see him, which I find highly suspicious. Then
Bonnie finds Mary’s one-eyed cat Fred is up for adoption. It was agreed Mary
could take him to the foster home. Yet, he was given up for adoption because of
allergies. Evelyn’s.
Evelyn
has been given great access to Mary, and has been pounding Mary with tutors. This
was not part of the agreement. Frank confronts Evelyn in the study room she
created, after saving Fred and other cats from being put to sleep.
Distressed
at seeing Frank, Mary runs out of the room. Frank follows, and Evelyn tries to
as well, but Roberta stops her (the best moment of the movie, in my opinion). Frank
eventually returns to the study room carrying his sister’s work. Work Diane
never wanted her mother to get her hands on. Frank exchanges the work for Mary.
The
sweet part of the movie is the great care and love Frank has for Mary. He wants
Mary to have a normal childhood, and will do whatever he can to make that
happen. Even if it means living with Fred despite not liking cats.
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| Photo of DVD back cover taken by Kate Dorsey |
Frank
will also do whatever it takes to make Mary feel loved. When she feels she was
unwanted when she was born, Frank takes her to a maternity ward waiting room. He
lets her see the joy others feel when someone comes out of the delivery room
and announces a birth. Frank then explains the exact same thing happened when
she was born. Only, except for the father coming out with the announcement, he
did.
The
infuriating part is all the people who try to take advantage of Mary. From
Principal Davis, to Evelyn, to Evelyn’s professor friends, none of them have
Mary’s best interest at heart. It is disgusting how they each used this
seven-year-old child for their own self-interest.
I
also got frustrated with Frank. I don’t know if it was because he was doubting
himself or what, but I felt he should have fought harder than he did. Maybe he
should have brought Roberta in on the situation earlier. As I mentioned, the
best scene is in the study room when Roberta intimidates Evelyn, and Evelyn
backs down from what she was going to do. Someone needed to do that to Evelyn a
lot earlier.
Something
else I wish Frank had done was take on Principal Davis. She had no right to do
what she did. Uprooting a child and her family so she could shine. A lawsuit or
complaint to the school board to have Principal Davis removed would have been
justified.
The
same should have happened with the foster parents. They definitely did not hold
up their agreement, harming Mary as a result.
Even
though none of these things happened in the film, no matter how badly I wanted
them to, I have to say there still is a happy ending. Especially for Mary. What
was best for her did get figured out. It wasn’t the direction Frank was going
in the beginning, but it was the right direction. Mary was able to grow with
her mathematical intelligence and still be a kid. It was a compromise that worked
for Mary. Because that is what you do when you love someone. You do what is
best for them.
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