"The Quiet Girl" -- Movie Review

 

This week at Film At Lincoln Center, I attended a screening of the Irish drama, “The Quiet Girl”, which is nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film 2023. 

Synopsis

When a neglected girl spends the summer with a foster family, will she return to her parents despite the fact that she starts to flourish under their care?

Story

In 1981 rural Ireland, Cáit (Catherine Clinch) is one of many children raised by her parents in a ramshackle house.  With her mother pregnant and school out for the summer, Cáit is sent to live with foster parents for the next couple of months.  Although Cáit doesn’t know them, they are actually related -- Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley) is her mother’s cousin and her husband Seán (Andrew Bennett) will care for the girl until the baby is born.  While Cáit may be relieved to put some distance between herself and her highly dysfunctional family, she nevertheless remains considerably apprehensive – will she be jumping from the frying pan into the fire?

Upon arrival at Eibhlín and Seán’s home, it’s immediately apparent that Cáit has entered a completely different world.  Although the couple are farmers like her own parents, they have a lovely, clean house and the girl is warmly welcomed – not seen as a burden, as her parents do.  Cáit’s father drops her off, warning the couple that they are in for a great deal of misery when taking in Cáit – and when he quickly leaves, he forgets to give them his daughter’s suitcase, so the only clothes she has are what she’s wearing.  Eibhlín fixes this by having the girl wear some boy’s clothes until they can go shopping with Cáit for something more appropriate. 

When one of Eibhlín and Seán’s neighbors offers to have Cáit over to meet her own children so she’ll have some friends, the couple agree – but after this woman mercilessly interrogates the girl, Cáit learns of a secret about the two that significantly changes their relationship.  Once Cáit returns to Eibhlín and Seán, she confronts them about what she’s discovered; Eibhlín is quite upset but Seán uses this opportunity to bond with Cáit.  Eventually, a letter arrives – Cáit’s mother has given birth and with the start of the new school term imminent, suggests now would be a good time to send Cáit home.  But with neither Cáit nor the couple anxious to return the girl to her parents, how will this get resolved between the two families? 

Review

“The Quiet Girl” is an equally quiet film and is about as close to perfect as you can get; it deserves to win the Academy Award for which it’s nominated, but considering the other nominees, it’s probably a longshot – and that’s too damned bad.  It has an absolutely heartbreaking ending that will move you to tears in perhaps the best way possible.  At its heart, the story is really about the healing power of love and especially the impact it has on a child who has been missing it for most of her upbringing.  Regardless of whether or not this wins the award, “The Quiet Girl” is definitely a must-see for all cineastes out there.    

There is a gentleness and tenderness throughout “The Quiet Girl” which, while suiting, can sometimes make the film feel a bit slowly paced; whether this makes you fall out of the story or stick with it will definitely depend on if you are emotionally invested in the movie up to that point.  One thing that should be noted about the movie if you are considering viewing:  it has subtitles.  The reason for this is because the characters frequently alternate between Gaelic and English; while English-only audiences will need the subtitles to translate the Gaelic, the parts that are in English may also benefit from the subtitles due to the heavy Irish accent used by the characters.

There was an interview with the filmmakers following the screening; this included writer/director Colm Bairéad, producer Cleona Ní Chrualaoí and cast members Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett and Catherine Clinch.  Bairéad said that the idea for his first feature film came from reading the short story on which it is based (“Foster” by Claire Keegan); he was deeply affected by it and wanted to tell a story with a first person narrative without relying on voice over narration throughout the entire film.  Accidentally, Covid became influential in the making of this movie; originally supposed to be shot in 2020, it was delayed until the following year.  Covid became an ally in telling the story because the physical distance required by the pandemic played well with the absence of physical affection between the characters. 

 

"Your Place Or Mine" -- Movie Review

 

This week, I attended a special screening of the new romantic comedy from Netflix, “Your Place Or Mine”, starring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher. 

Synopsis

When two long-time platonic friends trade places for a week, will their relationship transform into a romance?

Story

Twenty years ago, when they were both living in Los Angeles, Debbie and Peter (Witherspoon and Kutcher) had a hook-up.  They never continued a romantic relationship beyond that, but did maintain contact over the years, despite the fact that Peter eventually moved to New York City.  Debbie wound up getting married and had a son, Jack (Wesley Kimmel) – but when she got divorced, she found herself a single mother dedicated to raising and supporting Jack completely on her own.  Peter, on the other hand, decided to abandon his dreams of becoming a writer and managed to develop a successful consulting business. 

Debbie is scraping by financially and looks for career advancement – towards that end, she decides to sign up for a class that may allow her to either get a promotion or a better paying job.  Unfortunately, the course is a week long and taught in New York City, requiring her to leave Jack for a week while a friend watches him.  Although she’s looking forward to spending some time with Peter after her classes, her plans fall through when her friend must take a job and is unavailable to be with Jack.  When Peter finds out about this, he offers to fly to Los Angeles to watch Jack for her while she stays at his place and concentrates on her studies.

Once the two have temporarily exchanged residences, both soon discover that they have been missing out on life opportunities that they find rewarding and fulfilling.  For one thing, Peter develops a friendship with Jack, serving as something of a surrogate father.  Meanwhile, Debbie winds up dating Theo (Jesse Williams), a book publisher whom she meets by chance through one of Peter’s exes (Zoe Chao).  When Debbie learns Jack has been hospitalized after playing hockey, she is furious at Peter and orders him to leave while she returns to Los Angeles to care for Jack.  But after they both discover secrets about each other during their trip, will they nevertheless be able to rekindle their affair?

Review

The suspension of disbelief that one must dedicate to “Your Place Or Mine” is rather substantial; in fact, suspending it from a height far above that which the infamous Chinese spy balloon recently flew might not be much of an overstatement.  If you like being bashed over the head with a sledgehammer repeatedly, then you’ll probably enjoy the clumsy manner in which the character exposition is delivered at various points throughout the movie.  Despite the chemistry between Kutcher and Witherspoon, this is very much the formulaic superficial rom-com that is perfect for much-needed escapist entertainment.    

One of the many contrivances is the “house swap” premise.  Why does Debbie have to take a weeklong trip from Los Angeles to New York City in order to take a class?  Seriously, is there nothing similar being offered closer to where she lives so that she doesn’t have to have someone babysit her son?  Then, there’s also the contrivance of her allowing Peter to mind her son, despite the fact that he’s only ever met the boy over video calls.  Lastly, there’s the obvious contrivance that is the overriding premise of the story:  that two heterosexual people of the opposite sex who live three time zones away can maintain a nonphysical friendship for twenty years.  Enjoy your fairytale. 

Prior to the screening, the movie was introduced by writer-director Aline Brosh McKenna, who was accompanied by cast members Tig Notaro, Zoe Chao, Jesse Williams, Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon.  Kutcher said that although he was excited to learn he would be doing a film with Witherspoon, it turned out that they only worked together for about two or three days during the shoot.  McKenna told the audience that “Your Place Or Mine” would be good to watch for what she termed “Gal-entine’s Day” – when single women without a date for Valentine’s Day get together.  Kutcher initially misunderstood this to be “Gallontine’s Day” where a group of buddies gather to drink a gallon of wine.