The movie

The Quiet Girl

Rural Ireland 1981. A quiet, neglected girl is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with foster parents for the summer. She blossoms in their care, but in this house where there are meant to be no secrets, she discovers one.

Length: 94 min
Country: Ireland
Language spoken: Gaelic
Language subtitles: Dutch
Cast: Andrew Bennett, Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Michael Patric, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, Joan Sheehy
Director: Colm Bairéad
Release date: 13/04/2023

Description

In the summer of 1981, the quiet and introverted ten-year-old Cáit (first-time actor Catherine Clinch) is sent away by her overwhelmed mother and alcoholic father to live with her mother’s kindly and more well-off distant cousin Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley) and her husband Seán (Andrew Bennett), a childless couple whom Cáit has never even met before. During her stay, the mysteries of nature and the adult world begin to reveal themselves as Cáit blossoms and discovers a new way of life—but, in the process, she also stumbles upon a secret...

‘This beautiful and compassionate film from first-time feature director Colm Bairéad… is a child’s-eye look at our fallen world; already it feels to me like a classic… Kate McCullough’s superb cinematography and Emma Lowney’s production design create a magically beautiful new world for Cáit to feel at once threatened and exalted by: almost every shot is a vividly composed, painterly gem.’—Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

The film was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.

Reviews

The Guardian
"Beautiful and compassionate film”