The Quiet Girl | Dir: Colin Bairead | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Written and directed by Colm Bairead, this delicate drama takes the audience to rural Ireland in the early eighties. Nine-year-old Cait (Catherine Clinch) is the quiet girl in the middle of a chaotic family whose brood of neglected kids is about to increase again as her mother is expecting another baby.
Cait’s father calls her ‘the wanderer’ because she is always escaping her noisy family to hide in the long grass and be with her own thoughts. Cait’s father also manages to escape to spend hours down at the pub while his hassled wife worries about bills and the work on the farm that hasn’t been done.
Over the summer holidays, Cait is sent to stay with foster parents who are actually distant relatives. Eibhiln (Carrie Crowley) and Sean (Andrew Bennett) don’t have children of their own and Eibhiln immediately surrounds Cait with love and the care that has been missing in her life.
Seen from Cait’s point of view and spoken entirely in Irish Gaelic, it is wonderful to see how she blossoms over the summer, even though her father drove off with her suitcase of clothes still in the boot of his car. Eibhiln supplies Cait with clothes that almost fit her, and in a house that wasn’t meant to have secrets, Cait makes a very sad discovery.
While the premise for the film is simple, the way that it captures the small details that are significant to a child gives the drama poignancy. This lyrical film about the huge difference a small amount of care can make plucks at the heartstrings (or harp strings).
The first screening of The Quiet Girl is on Sunday 11 September at Luna Cinema – at 3.30pm for Barry’s Irish Tea and delicious cake on arrival before the 4pm screening. It will then screen at the Irish Film Festival from 15-18 September at Palace Cinemas Raine Square.
Lezly Herbert
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