In The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin), neglected nine-year-old Cáit is sent by her pregnant mother to live with older, distant cousins in rural Ireland for the summer. Cáit blossoms in their care, but she also discovers a hidden story in this idyllic home where there were meant to be no secrets.
Join us on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 10 a.m. for The Quiet Girl as Cinema Art Bethesda continues in-person screenings and discussions at the Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema. As always, coffee/tea and bagels/cream cheese will be provided at no additional charge starting at 9:30 am. Admission is $15 per person (cash or checks only).
Summary
With her exhausted mother of five expecting yet another baby, nine-year-old Cáit is sent off from her overcrowded, dysfunctional and impoverished home to live for the summer with childless, older relatives in County Waterford, Ireland. It’s 1981, and the couple are warm and caring, providing Cáit with true affection for the first time in her life. As she builds a relationship with her temporary foster parents, Cáit learns their secret which affects her lively, joyful demeanor that has emerged since her arrival at their home. She herself survives a dangerous accident, which helps build her relationship with the couple.
When Cáit is summoned home – after her mom gives birth to a new sibling – Cáit faces the decision of being with her biological parents or these newfound and nurturing relations. Writer-Director Colm Bairéad has loaded the story with thoughtful symbolism, including Cáit’s confrontation with the question, so appropriate in this coming-of-age-film: which is stronger, blood or water?
The Quiet Girl runs 1 hours 35 minutes. Irish Gaelic and English with English subtitles.
This film is rated PG-13 for some strong language and smoking.
Trailer
More Details about The Quiet Girl
Official Site (Distributor: Super Ltd.)
The Quiet Girl at Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer: 96%; Audience 93%)
Festivals and Awards
- 2023 95th Academy Awards (U.S.)
- Nominated for Best International Feature Film (the first Irish language film nominated in this category)
- 2022 Berlin International Film Festival
- Grand Prix (Crystal Bear) Best Film award from International Jury Bes
- 2022 IFTA Irish Film and Television Academy Drama Awards
- Won: Best film, best director, best leading actress. Total 11 nominations
- 2022 Dublin International Film Festival
- Won: Audience Award and Aer Lingus Discovery Award (Director Colm Bairéad)
Reviews
Rolling Stone (David Fear): ‘The Quiet Girl’ Is One of the Most Heartbreaking Movies in Ages
“A genuine work of art by a genuinely empathetic artist, and one of the single most moving, heartfelt, and heartbreaking movies from any country in the last decade. That only sounds like hyperbole until you see it.”
NPR Fresh Air (Justin Chang): This tender Irish drama proves the quietest films can have the most to say
“Not many movies would focus on a character as unassuming as Cáit, but there’s nothing small or insignificant about her story. Sometimes, it’s the quietest movies that turn out to have the most to say.”
Washington Post (Michael O’Sullivan): ‘The Quiet Girl’: Irish Oscar nominee is eloquent in its silence
“In a world of noise … the Academy Award-nominated The Quiet Girl stands out. … Much of [its] magic transpires in the silences, which Bairead fills with shots of sunlit green grass and telling glances. The Quiet Girl is that rare thing: a work of storytelling that speaks most loudly when it is saying nothing.”
Globe and Mail (Toronto) (Anne T. Donahue): Ireland’s Oscar-nominated The Quiet Girl speaks volumes about the power of being loved
“Through heart-wrenching, nuanced and arresting performances by Clinch, Crowley and Bennett, The Quiet Girl technically lives up to its name, but speaks volumes about the transformative power of what it means to be loved.”
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