The Quiet Girl premiered at Berlinale in February where it won a Crystal Bear. It is showing as part of the main programme at Zagreb Film Festival.
Irish people will tell you that they can instantly recognise if they’re entering an Irish or an English pub. The name is the first giveaway. But there is something inside, something I can’t always recognise myself. And while I might be useless at telling pubs, I can tell the difference when it comes to Irish movies. An Cailín Ciúin – The Quiet Girl not excluded. The name is the giveaway. And inside? A certain loneliness, a warmth. Coziness. The Quiet Girl is an unmistakably Irish movie lathered with Gaelic for good measure.
The film begins as movies about Ireland always begin – with lascivious green landscapes and wide marshes. In the wilderness, the camera finds the sweetest girl you’ve ever seen. She chooses the calm of the outdoors to escape the noise of her busy home. There, her older sisters bully her and her younger brothers wails endlessly. It is apparent that her family is not very prosperous even before her mother is revealed to have the fifth child on the way.
Cáit’s situation is hardly enviable, but she is still heartbroken when she is taken to her mother’s cousin to spend the summer there and lighten the load of the family. “Which one is she?” her foster family ask. “The wanderer” replies the father. She happily roams the countryside, but she is a wanderer in thoughts, too. And she is the one to wander away from the family. Her family in Waterford give Cáit time and kindness that were missing back home. The director punctuates the long quiet moments with appropriate long takes and stunning photography. Here ho shows us how Cáit takes solace in her doting aunt and in turn melts the icy façade of her uncle.
In many ways, The Quiet Girl is a film we’ve seen a hundred times before. An emotional child is being neglected by her family. A family who suffered a loss get their second chance at love. It is the delicate imagery that the directory chooses to boost his simple story that make all the difference. It’s easy to give in to them and with them to the film.
When the story reaches its inevitable end, we are left with many unanswered questions. And even insufficiently explored topics. The film grazed against images of poverty, wealth, family, loss and individuality without making a statement about them. The impression is like looking out into the nature. It is ethereal and enchanting. Just like this movie.
