The true account of New Jersey detective Laurel Hester’s battle with county officials to allow her to leave her pension benefits to her partner Stacie after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Freeheld is a heartbreaking tale that somehow struggles in its conversion to the big screen. Julianne Moore and Ellen Page are both great as the couple in question and the brilliant Michael Shannon is in typically scene-stealing form as Hester’s police partner Dane Wells, but it all feels a little too much like a made-for-TV special rather than the inspiring fight for equality it deserves to be – a disappointing result for an undeniably powerful story.
