Stunning
- The Quiet Girl review by AER
This is just about the best Irish film I've ever seen and one of the most moving portrayals about childhood. 10 out of 10.
6 out of 6 members found this review helpful.
Beautiful
- The Quiet Girl review by sb
FILM & REVIEW Aka The Quiet Girl - beautifully understated film set in the rural countryside in 1981. Catherine Clinch plays Cait a number of siblings on a farm on the poverty line. The Mother is about to give birth to yet another child so Cait is farmed out to a remote cousin Eibhlin (Crowly) and her husband Sean (Benett) who are far more prosperous and live in a large farmhouse. At first Cait is a bit lost among the space and silence but Eibhlin looks after her and makes sure she settles in. Sean however is a remote taciturn man who more or less ignores the newcomer but over the summer the two begin to bond. It’s revealed that the couple had a child of their own but he drowned so Cait becomes a surrogate…and that’s about it… But first class performances especially from Clinch and a refusal to wallow in sentiment lift this way above its kitchen sink origins as does the photography and sound design. - a little gem really - 4/5
5 out of 5 members found this review helpful.
Quietly beautiful
- The Quiet Girl review by PD
This delicate and unsurprisingly quiet debut piece from Colm Bairéad follows Cáit, a shy, sad schoolgirl in an unhappy family, sent away to spend the summer with her mother’s cousin. There, she’s shown a simple, uncomplicated tenderness, gradually forging a family of the kind she’s clearly never experienced before - Carrie Crowley as Eibhlín in particular giving a low-key but totally convincing portrayal of someone transformed by the newcomer, whilst Catherine Clinch as Cáit gives a mature, understated yet powerful performance well beyond her years, her face betraying anxieties she doesn’t yet fully understand at every turn.
The dialogue almost entirely consists in a gentle and lyrical Irish - tellingly, the few English speakers in the film are characters Cáit fears or struggles to trust, such as her belligerent, emotionally inert father - and though the attention is focused on its central figure, the film is full of people unable to express themselves, inner turmoil in different forms. Cáit’s parents are sad and unfulfilled; Cáit herself struggles to make friends; and her foster parents, though much more open and loving, have a grief-filled history they are not fully sharing: it takes acts of mutual care and affection for any lines of communication to open. There's also a vinegary tang of black comedy and cynicism provided by neighbour Úna (a brief but terrific turn from Joan Sheehy) who looks after Cáit one afternoon and brutally tells the girl all about what her foster parents aren’t telling her - we suspect of course that Eibhlín wanted Úna to shoulder the awful burden of revealing this.
The sedate camerawork never leaves Cáit’s vantage point, and the naturalistic cinematography appropriately finds a comfort in stillness, as does the minimalist score. There's a little too much sentiment occasionally, and the filmmaker is perhaps guilty of manipulating our emotions at times, but overall it's a lovely, tender piece giving us a child's perspective on our fallen world. Sometimes, the film ponders, it’s better not to say anything at all. “She says as much as she needs to say,” Cáit’s adoptive father says of her. “May there be many like her.”
4 out of 4 members found this review helpful.
A devastating, beautiful and moving story of childhood in rural Ireland
- The Quiet Girl review by giantrolo
This was such a quietly solemn and poignant film that was at different moments heartbreaking, harrowing and moving. So well cast and beautifully filmed, it really is a treat to watch. Recommended!
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
Lovely Film
- The Quiet Girl review by Peter B
Beautifully filmed and acted. Catherine Clinch is brilliantly subtle and authentic as a shy and troubled child of a poor Irish family in County Waterford in the 1980's. Deliverance and a slow awakening to happiness comes when she is sent to her mother's cousin for the summer holidays. Great photography and an authentic feel to the story.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
You must watch this.
- The Quiet Girl review by PL
My wife and I found this the most beautiful, touching and sensitive exploration of love at the centre (or not) of family life in a rural Irish village. We were left with tears in our eyes.
The dialogue is mostly in Irish Gaelic (subtitled - although telling moments revert to English) but don't let that put you off. The acting is superb from all. Highly recommended is an understatement.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
Simple, quiet, moving
- The Quiet Girl review by JR
This is a quiet, simple film which shows great understanding and tenderness for a withdrawn, neglected and unloved child. It shows Irish rural life in its hardship and also beauty, and there is poetry in the cinematography of the natural surroundings. I found the dialogue difficult to hear, particularly Cait's family, so I was very glad of the subtitles for the Irish dialogue.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Be patient
- The Quiet Girl review by AK
Yes, very understated but holds your attention. Great look. Thought it was shot on film, but amazingly it's shot digitally. Don't be put off by the welsh language as the dialogue is minimal. A good emotional impact as a character-driven drama, unlike more genre-inflected films that the BFI and such bodies often fund.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
A loving little gem
- The Quiet Girl review by JM
his film is a little gem, but it isn't for everyone - if you like fast and furious, then move on.
It's a slow burn gentle account of a young girl in rural Ireland and her gradual emerging from the fairly dysfunctional family she is part of. Her parents are small time farmers, but the father drinks and gambles, leaving the mother to try somehow to soldier on with little money and too many kids. Cait - the quiet girl - is literally that: quiet, very withdrawn and scarcely says anything and as a result is also backward at school.
Mum has yet another baby on the way, so Cait is packed off to a cousin and her husband for the whole summer. Here she gradually responds to a home which gives her some simple love and attention, a home which also hides a secret which is eventually revealed. The ending has a tear jerking quality, but maintains its gentle and wistful approach.
You might say it's inconsequential: its only 90 minutes of your time, but beautifully shows how a little love shown to a child can mean a lot - and I would say, last a lifetime.
A definite four and a half stars from me.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.
Dire
- The Quiet Girl review by JG
I thought this would be a charming, pastoral atmospherique Irish film. Instead I find a plodding grim tale (about what?). Much mumbling about 'the harvest'. Unbearable. Sorry this isn't a 'proper' review but this is all I can think to say about it. I could not finish it.
0 out of 2 members found this review helpful.