184. The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin); movie review

 

THE QUIET GIRL (AN CAILÍN CIÚIN)

Cert 12A

95 mins

BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong language

My heart bleeds for children whose life chances are stunted by feckless parents.

I fear the tougher the cost of living crisis takes hold, the more there will be cases like that of The Quiet Girl.

Colm Bairéad's movie is set in 1981 but it could have easily been translated to 2022.

It stars the excellent Catherine Clinch as Cáit, a young lass who is submerged beneath the noise of a deprived Irish farmhouse.

She has no friends at school and is seen as oddball by her sisters, so when she wanders off for the umpteenth time, it is decided to send her to relatives to spend the summer.

The scenario could not be more different from the chaos at home and the careless attitude of her good-for-nothing father (Michael Patric).

In her temporary home, she becomes the loving focus for her mother's cousin (Carrie Crowley) and her farmer husband (Andrew Bennett).

Obviously, there is not an immediate change and the couple and the girl have to face up to realities from the past and present to make the arrangement work.

But the key here is trust and as soon as that is established, love can blossom and a child can flourish.

During my work life and, latterly, voluteering for charities, I have seen cases of children who have never been given that chance.

Thus, I recognise the importance of nurture as well as nature, highlighted in The Quiet Girl.

Bairéad's movie, which benefits from some startlingly convincing performances by its cast, translates these observations into a gentle but thoroughly meaningful movie.

Reasons to watch: Poignant and purposeful.

Reasons to avoid: Some may find it too slow

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 8/10

Did you know? According to a 2021 report, 661,518 people in Ireland are living in poverty, of which 210,363 are children. 133,627 people living in poverty are in employment; the “working poor”. 781,794 people are experiencing deprivation, of which 250,956 are children.

The final word. Colm Bairéad: "I hope we managed to strike a balance, in terms of taking time and allowing the emotional restraint of the piece to register but also that it's still something that holds you as an audience and compels you to some degree, even in the absence of any great plot developments." Eye For Film

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