PG | 1h 50m | Biopic, Medicine | 2025
The biopic “Audrey’s Children” is about British-born chief of pediatric oncology, Dr. Audrey Evans (Natalie Dormer of “Game of Thrones”).
In 1969, Dr. Evans joins the world-renowned Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. There, she battles sexism, medical conventions, and colleague subterfuge, all while pioneering treatment for neuroblastoma. This is a lethal form of cancer that killed 90 percent of patients, many of whom were young children, before her revolutionary treatment advancements.
Dr. Evans accomplished an incredible amount during her lifetime, and “Audrey’s Children” attempts to cover all areas.
Squeaky Wheel
The film begins with Dr. Evans immediately rubbing her medical staff colleagues the wrong way, including doctors C. Everett Koop (Clancy Brown), Jeremy Lewis (Ben Chase), and Dan D'Angio (Jimmi Simpson). The formidable amount of sexism Dr. Evans surely encountered before reaching the pinnacle of her profession is suggested through her prickly, knee-jerk assumptions that she’s being patronized. She’s, of course, not wrong.
“Audrey’s Children” attempts to cram in all of Dr. Evans’s formidable achievements like Santa packing presents for a three-generational New England clan on Christmas Eve. There’s her research, conducted old school, in basements, on scribbled index cards taped to cinder-block walls. There’s her wonderful bedside manner with her young patients. There’s the fact that she’s the pediatric oncology version of the Unsinkable Molly Brown—she displays tireless passion and tremendous, discerning intelligence.
She butts heads with hospital administrators, especially Dr. Koop. While he appreciates that she’s a force of nature, he’s tasked with trying to keep a lid on her boundless enthusiasm, so as not to endanger hospital funding. There’s even a mild romance that flares with Dr. Dan.
Successful Biopics
Great biopics such as “A Complete Unknown,“ ”Oppenheimer,“ and ”The Social Network” leave lasting impressions due to their decisions to focus on specific sections of their subject’s life. Choices have to be made about what exactly to cover. “Audrey’s Children” contains roughly three different movies. A whole movie could have been dedicated to the founding of Ronald McDonald House, another one about her standing strong in the face of systemic misogyny and sexism, and yet another about Dr. Evans’s cutting-edge treatment strategies.“Audrey’s Children” is at its best when it focuses on the intensity of Dr. Evans and her relationships. Despite her budding romance with Dr. Dan being a B-plot, whenever they’re together, viewers will want more. Her forest-fire-level desire to help children, along with his more subdued but no less passionate blue, kitchen-stove flame, and his gentleness, is a brightly-wrapped present that stands out in the over-stuffed screenplay.
The film has to pick up speed to jam in the sheer amount of good that Dr. Evans did (Dr. Evans passed in 2022, at the age of 97) which means it necessarily becomes a bit of a greatest hits medley. This ends up being what holds “Audrey’s Children” back from greatness.
All that said, it is, after all, a story about children with cancer, and it’s impossible not to be moved. It’s an honorable story that demands telling. “Audrey’s Children” might not rank with the great biopics, but it’s sure to inspire good deeds in young, up-and-coming medical profession aspirants, and most definitely worth a watch for everyone.
