In 1985 in an Irish town, Bill Furlong (played by Cillian Murphy) goes about his life and hard work as a coal merchant. A father to five girls, the expensive Christmas season weighs on him, bringing to light memories of his difficult childhood as the son of an ostracised, but fortunately cared for, young single mother. One day, Bill sets off on his deliveries earlier than expected and finds a pregnant teenage girl locked in the local convent’s coal shed.

Painfully quiet and still, Bill is a man with a lot on his mind but extremely apprehensive in sharing any of it. Obviously suffering, it is difficult to see where the movie’s dramatic tension comes from. Is Bill a survivor of some horrid childhood wrong? Does the angst come from the politics of the time, or is Bill aware of the everyday misogyny around him but feels powerless to do anything about it? While the movie’s very late inciting incident (the event that disrupts the protagonist’s normal life and sets the main plot in motion, forcing them to embark on a new journey or face a conflict) draws a focus on the mistreatment of a pregnant youth living and working in the local convent, the extent of her and her sisters’ suffering is difficult to grasp, such is the delicate, subtle and understated touch of the movie. It is also difficult to recognise the shifts in time periods.

Verdict: A beautiful looking and acted movie, with an unclear focus of the main conflict until the end credits. Fans of the original novella by Claire Keegan, which was released in 2020, and its source material may get more out of it.

3 stars.

Luke McWilliams. themovieclub.net