Directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan (Stella Days (2022); Nothing Personal (1995); Silent Witness (tv series, 2010-2020); Shetland (tv series, 2016)) and starring Maggie Smith (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969); The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011); Gosford Park (2001); A Room with a View (1985)), Laura Linney (Kinsey (2002); The Truman Show (1998); Mystic River (2003); Ozark (tv series, 2017-2022)), Kathy Bates (Misery (1990); About Schmidt (2002); Titanic (1997); Midnight in Paris (2011)), Stephen Rea (The Crying Game (1992); Black'47 (2018); Stella Days (2011); The Shadow Line (tv series, 2011)) and Agnes O'Casey (Lies We Tell (2023); Ridley Road (tv series, 2021)).
Comedy Drama; 91 mins; children admitted
Set in the late 1950s in the fictional Dublin suburb of Ballygar, a tough community on the outside, but one which is rooted in traditions of loyalty, faith and togetherness.
Dolly Hennessy's (Agnes O'Casey) son does not yet talk and she believes that a pilgrimage to Lourdes will help. Lily Fox (Maggie Smith) also wants to go as she has a bad leg. Chrissie Ahearn (Laura Linney) arrives back home - from the US - for her mother's funeral, only for old wounds to be opened. Nobody is at the funeral service as they are more interested in the local talent contest where the top prize is ... a trip to Lourdes. Actually, it's a free ticket to Lourdes on the pilgrimage on which the parish is going.
Together with Dolly and Lily, Eileen Dunne (Kathy Bates) make up the threesome who enter the contest and aspire to win the free trip. However, once Chrissie walks in, all bets are off as the backstory is revealed: Lily's son drowned and Chrissie was "banished", but she had only told Eileen, her best friend at the time, her secret.
Once they leave for Lourdes with high expectations, escaping the gauntlet of domestic life, it is the men who are left behind, including Frank Dunne (Stephen Rea): but how will he cope with the children without his wife...?
The pilgrimage turns into one of healing, about three generations of women coming to terms with the past. They start to question their friendships and their faith, and reflect on the past while looking to the future.
A wonderful, warm film in which there is great chemistry between the leading actors, with a cracking musical score.
Currently screening at Ciné Utopia and CiNextDoor.
