History Film / Philomena

* PetTheDog: One of the young nuns obtains a photograph of Anthony and gives it to Philomena.

* FreudianSlip: Martin, when talking about his confusing JaneRussell and JayneMansfield.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Martin

* DeadpanSnarker: Martin is constantly snarking--which goes entirely over Philomena's head most of the time.

* MisfitMobilizationMoment: Several minor ones throughout the film as the two characters warm to each other and their 'mission'. The first one being when Martin's smarmy former colleague returns to First Class on the plane and Philomena remarks to Martin that First Class doesn't necessarily mean first class people.

''Philomena'' is a 2013 film [[BasedOnATrueStory based on the true story]] of Philomena Lee, a young woman in 1950s Ireland who becomes pregnant and is sent to one of the infamous Magdalene Laundries. Her child is forcibly adopted at age two. She remains silent until her son's fiftieth birthday.

Enter Martin Sixsmith, a journalist and former spin doctor who has been sacked. Philomena's daughter, only just learning of her mother's secret past, tries to get Martin to take on what he dismissively calls a "human interest story". However, he accepts, somewhat grudgingly, and he and Philomena go on an OddCouple road trip round Ireland and America, trying to find the location of Philomena's Anthony.

* KindHeartedSimpleton: Martin sees Philomena this way at least at first but she's more wise than he gives her credit for.

* TheBeard: Marcia acted as one for Michael

* DeadpanSnarker: Martin is constantly snarking--which goes entirely over Philomena's head

* FourEyesZeroSoul: Sister Hildegard
* GayConservative: [[spoiler: Anthony/Michael]]

* TheDitz

* OutOfFocus: Philomena's daughter takes an important role in the early scenes of the film but then isn't seen on screen again.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG3QP8foCvg#t=1m53s one trailer]] [[spoiler:give away the fact that Philomena's son was Michael Hess.]]

-->[[spoiler:Michael died on August 15, 1995.]]

* ReasonYouSuckSpeech: Philomena to Martin and Martin to Sister Hildegard.

* PresentDayPast: Very much averted. Set in the early 2000s and uses period computers, mobile phones and cars.

* DawsonCasting: Minor, unusual example. Dench actually is the same age as Philomena in real life. However, given how this takes place in 2004, 50 years after Lee gives birth to Anthony, the oldest she could be in the film would be around 68, whereas Dench was around 78 during filming.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Sister Hildegard has serious health problems in her old age and gets called out by Martin for her actions. But the other nuns who ran the laundries and lied to Philomena and Michael, Philomena's unseen father who abandoned and disowned her, and Martin's boss who encourages him to exploit Philomena's grief are all unpunished.]]

* BrickJoke: Martin, looking for a new project after being fired from his job, floats the idea of writing about Russian history several times, to complete disinterest and discouragement from his friends and colleagues. In the epilogue, we learn that he did in fact write several successful book about Russian history.

* BrickJoke: Martin, looking for a new project after being fired from his job, floats the idea about writing about Russian history several times, to complete disinterest and discouragement from his friends and colleagues. In the epilogue, we learn that he did in fact write several successful book about Russian history.

* WhamLine: A rare text variant, seen as Martin [[spoiler:successfully finds a website detailing Michael's life]]:

* WhamLine: A rare text variant: