A sensitive portrayal of three Irish couples struggling with acceptance and belonging who find their limelight in Garry Keane’s documentary A Quiet Love which won in the “Being Oneself” category at the Doc Edge Festival.
Three couples share their experiences with living in a world which is not built for them and which they have to adapt to and adapt to themselves. The first couple are the sweetest. Now octogenarians, they reminisce on their youth and the politics that brought them together and kept them apart. Growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, perhaps Agnes and John would never have met were it not for their hearing difficulties. As young people with a hearing disability their only option of schooling was in a mixed religion school where this Protestant and Catholic couple fell in love.
Next, we have Michelle and Kathy, two women who chose to find their marital bliss outside of Ireland in order to find a place for themselves in the queer community. Both mothers with the help of artificial insemination, they speak of charms and challenges of raising two daughters with only one being hearing in their nuclear family.
Finally, there’s Sean, a true fighter among the more settled couples. This boxing aficionado finds solace in his hearing wife Deyanna and their young child while he contemplates the steps he might need to take in order to become eligible to turn professional as a boxer.
As A Quiet Love begins, it is reminiscent of His & Hers (2009) – another heartwarming Irish documentary that explores the irks and tenderness in relationships, but A Quiet Love leaves a lukewarm feeling by the end. Garry Keane’s previous work, Gaza (2019), provides intimate witness to daily lives in Gaza and Beirut, but he doesn’t bring the same urgency and connection to this Irish feature.
Keane opens A Quiet Love with Agnes and John whose love story was sparked and then stalled due to the Troubles. This intrigues the viewer who is keen to spend time with the couple in order to understand better their experiences of the hard of hearing as well as scratch the surface of the complexity of life during the Troubles.
However, we rarely dive beneath the surface with the couples that we see on the screen. Sure, it is commendable that A Quiet Love ticks many of the inclusivity boxes by providing a sensitive community with a seat both in front of and behind the cameras and in a language not often seen on the big screen (Irish Sign Language), but the barrier that separates the hearing and deaf communities from the off remains a little too wide by the time the film comes to the end.
Doc Edge Festival is celebrating 20 years of “Life Unscripted” from 25 June to 13 July 2025 in Auckland. Revisit our on-site coverage of last year’s edition here.
