A low-budget light comedy set in 1967 about a group of ladies from an Irish village who go to Lourdes for a miracle cure. Lily has one leg shorter than the other, Eileen has a lump in her breast and Dolly wants her son, an elective mute, to talk. They are joined by the parish priest and by Chrissy returning from America for the first time in forty years. There is clearly tension between Chrissy and the others and bit by bit we learn that Chrissy became pregnant by Lily’s (now drowned) son and, after Maggie her best friend had squealed, was exiled from the village. Inevitably the miracle they receive is one of reconciliation between them. Equally inevitably the husbands of Lily and Maggie and Agnes, who had tried to prevent them going and had found it difficult to look after themselves, the house and their children, welcomed them back. The third inevitability is that the mute boy, all golden curls and cuteness, says the single word ‘home’ when they return, but no-one hears him say it.
The acting's great!
It’s a hackneyed and saccharine story which is enlivened by first-class acting from Maggie Smith as Lily, Kathy Bates as Eileen and Laura Linney as Chrissy, though I found it difficult to believe that Eileen and Laura were the same age (clearly people age far faster in Ireland than in the US, perhaps Eileen’s five or maybe six children took their toll). The supporting cast of Agnes O’Casey as Dolly, Mark O’Halloran as the priest and, particularly, Stephen Rea as Eileen’s hapless (or maybe feckless) husband were also excellent.
The reviews
The acting's great!
It’s a hackneyed and saccharine story which is enlivened by first-class acting from Maggie Smith as Lily, Kathy Bates as Eileen and Laura Linney as Chrissy, though I found it difficult to believe that Eileen and Laura were the same age (clearly people age far faster in Ireland than in the US, perhaps Eileen’s five or maybe six children took their toll). The supporting cast of Agnes O’Casey as Dolly, Mark O’Halloran as the priest and, particularly, Stephen Rea as Eileen’s hapless (or maybe feckless) husband were also excellent.
The reviews
It's main weakness is that it is oh so predictable. For me the low-point came with the stereotypical treatment of the marriages. Maybe most Irish husbands of the time were hopeless but surely not all of them. This is a cliched comic trope and smacks of lazy writing.
Did they go to Lourdes? The shrine itself was seen from a single camera angle, and the interiors were surely all done in the studio. There was an overhead shot of the bus in the Lourdes countryside but I suggest that the budget prevented authenticity. The period settings in Ireland, however, seemed great and the Irish accents of the three female leads (none of whom are Irish) seemed to me adequate.
Other reviewers:
- It received 6.3/10 from 1MdB, and 67% from Rotten Tomatoes.
- The Guardian (2/5) called it “trite and predictable stuff: the laughs are forced; the pathos is over-stewed”.
- The Empire (2/5) calls it “excessively sentimental, and markedly downbeat for what should be a bit of grey-pound feel-goodery”.
- The Times (2/5) calls it a “cod-Irish calamity”
- The Los Angeles Times says it “boasts about as much edge as a digestive biscuit ... too long dunked in milky tea” and points out that when the priest suggests that the miracle of Lourdes is that it gives you the strength to carry on, it rather diminishes these hard-working and long-enduring Irish matriarchs.
- Variety celebrates “a handful of terrific actors” but suggests they would need a miracle to transform this “fairly standard pot of art-house pudding”.
At least it's short.
Comments
Post a Comment