The Quiet Girl

The best Irish film (whatever that means) ever made? Based on Claire Keegan’s exceptional ‘long short story’, The Quiet Girl’s ably adapted, and translated into the Irish language, by first-time feature-filmmaker Bairéad. It succeeds through his assured direction, Kate McCullough’s stunning cinematography, and a very strong Irish cast and crew, not least the young Catherine Clinch. Neglected by her immediate family, and her time, Cáit is fostered by distant relatives. She returns transformed. The film’s sacramental and incarnational, with a world charged with loss and love. It ends with a prayer-of-sorts. And hope. Better than The Quiet Man (no relation).

This is a calmly revealed story of the many faces of love. The directing, the pacing, the cinematography and the acting are all world-class. The character development of the three protagonists is awesome. The film is so endearing that you just want to live in this world.

Catherine Clinch is great here as the subdued but curious "Cáit". With her mother expecting a baby soon, she is shipped off to stay with farmers "Eibhlín" (Carrie Crowley) and her husband "Seán" (Andrew Bennett). Whilst the mother is openly welcoming, the father is more reticent as the young girl has to come to terms with her new surroundings. Now it's fair to say that her real parents care for her, they are not bad people - but she had been left very much to her own devices and as such, arrives here shy and retiring. "Eibhlin" is determined that she relaxes and fits in, and makes clear that there are no secrets and that openness and honesty must be the order of the day. Thing is, though, as "Cáit" meets local people, she discovers that the family she lives with are keeping one whopping great secret. Could the exposure of that secret bring the three of them more closely together? It's a beautifully shot and gently paced feature, this, with a paucity of extraneous dialogue that allows the characters to breathe and develop. The story is simply uncomplicated with a minimum of sentiment and melodrama, but still serves to provide us with an observation of love - in it's many guises - as well as despair and optimism too. Michael Patric's performance as the rather uncouth "Da" (he stubs his cigarette end out on his dinner plate) is also worth noting - he helps to put quite a bit of context into the attitude and behaviour of his young daughter. I wasn't sold on this when I sat down to watch it, but it is certainly worth a hour and a half of anyone's time.