The Quiet Girl - Simply a Masterpiece

The Quiet Girl is Ireland’s 2022 entry for the Academy Award’s international feature film category and it ended up garnering an Oscar nomination. It was directed by Colm Bairead and is based on a novella written in 2010 by author Claire Keegan which tells the story of a young girl who ends up spending the summer with her mother’s older cousin and her husband. I was not expecting much from this movie nor was it one I was overly excited to see as the subject matter did not seem like that of a movie which would be overly entertaining. However, having now seen the movie I am surprised to say that this may be the best film from this year's Oscar nominees and it deserves all the praise if not more than it is currently receiving.

One of the most important things a movie can do is to make you feel sympathy for the main character such that you are invested in their journey throughout the story of the film which is something The Quiet Girl excels at. During the first few minutes of the movie we see the titled “quiet girl” named Cait, who is played wonderfully by Catherine Clinch, feeling terror as she has accidentally wet the bed while she was asleep and thus decides to hide under her bed to avoid being chastised which does not work as her mother soon enters and tells her that she can see the mud on her boots under the bed. This first insight into the plight of this young girl is followed by yet another intense sequence, even though the subject matter at hand may appear bland if handled by another less skilled director. Specifically, Cait is seen in a classroom at school struggling to try and steal a cup of milk from a classmate's desk which she accomplishes after a few minutes only to have it spill in her lap when two young boys run into the side of her desk. She is again harshly judged though this time it is by some girls at school who see her in the hallway when she tries to go to the bathroom to clean herself up only to have them look at the stains on her outfit and glare at her as if she had had an accident. Thus, while Cait does not utter a word for the first ten minutes of the film the director has already made the audience sympathize with her by placing the audience in her shoes by showing us the things she encounters in everyday life through the girl’s perspective.

The first time Cait speaks she softly mentions that she has gathered the mail, and while this may seem insignificant it will come into play later in the film. This is soon followed by several conversations amongst some adults which the audience sees from the girl’s perspective such that the dialogue is muffled and the characters shown in the distance again furthering the audience’s investment in Cait. Following these conversations Cait is taken in by her mother’s cousin and her husband, they are named Eiblin and Sean Kinsella and are played by Carrie Crowley and Andrew Bennett respectively and they too are excellent here. Cait’s father explains to the couple that they cannot afford to look after Cait since they are short on money and already have several children with a new one on the way. At first Cait is not sure about her new surroundings and maintains her shy demeanour but this begins to fade almost immediately after her first night there where upon wetting the bed again Eiblin does not scold her which Cait seemed to have been anticipating given her past experiences with her family. As time passes the girl begins to become more acquainted with her new caretakers, eventually overcomes her bed wetting, and even starts to open up more than she had in the past speaking her mind to Sean about her thoughts on if humans should drink milk from cows, something she would have never felt comfortable enough at home to bring up. The impact these new caretakers have on Cait is best exemplified through how Sean encourages Cait to run to get the mail each day while they work on the farm together as a sort of game she enjoys a great deal as he times her each day and then shows her the improvements she is making as the summer days pass. The ability of Sean to take a simple act and make it something special is reflected later in the film when her running to get the mail is not shown as it had been previously where Cait was shown in a closeup with a smile on her facing running in slow motion with music accompanying her and instead it is shown from a distance at regular speed with no aided music revealing that the highlight of her day was only special due to the great parenting she began receiving at the farm. Additionally, as I mentioned at the start of this paragraph, Cait is shown earlier in the film gathering the mail at home which at that point was nothing more than a chore she reports having accomplished to her mother in a shallow voice only for this later to become one of her favourite parts of the day.

The Quiet Girl does a great job of showing the dichotomy between kind and cruel people such that Cait’s shyness appears to be more a response to the fear of being judged by others as opposed to an inherent quality she has. For instance, at one point in the film Cait walks home from a funeral her new caretakers took her too, where again we gain sympathy for her as she was shown being ignored sitting between two adults having conversations directly over her, and on the way home a woman who is friends with the couple tears down much of the confidence she had acquired from them so much so that she later takes off a piece of the outfit they had bought for her which she initially thought looked nice only for it to be ridiculed by the woman walking her home. Additionally, while earlier in the film Cait appeared to be struggling to read at school when she was forced to do so in front of the class and her teacher she later begins to read more fluently when she is taught by her new caretakers who encourage her instead of judging her for any mistakes she makes or comparing her abilities to those of her peers who may be better able to read at this point.

While Cait walked home from the funeral she learns that her new caretakers previously lost a son which was alluded to her earlier in the movie when Cait first moved in with them and it was shown that the curtain in their former son's room was torn reflecting that the room had not been lived in for some time. Once Cait returns home with the couple looking after her we see the kitchen from a new perspective as the camera now points towards the stairs from the kitchen as opposed to looking into the kitchen and out the window potentially alluding to the greater insight Cait has acquired about this family. Following these revelations Sean takes Cait to a beach and discusses with her the importance of knowing the value of not speaking sometimes which I found to be very profound especially in a world where it seems people struggle to ever be silent as many are constantly talking and shouting at one another online and in person.

This is one of the best films I have seen since it is so layered and has an honest voice when it comes to looking at human nature. For instance, one of the better moments in the film comes toward the end where Cait falls into a well and nearly drowns days before she must return home to her family. While the couple taking care of her do show alarm out of what may have happened to the girl the bigger fear they have is what her mother and father will say to them if they were to tell them what had happened to the girl. I found this to be another interesting insight into human nature in that people often fear telling others what has happened more than the event itself. Another noteworthy moment in the film, which I initially did not fully comprehend until after I looked up an article about the movie, deals with how the movie makes it appear as though Cait may have previously been abused at home by her family. This past trauma is alluded to the first time Cait is invited to go to the well by Eiblin which Cait nervously responds to by asking if this is a secret the two should keep from the others which terrifies Eiblin. Upon hearing this Eiblin tells the girl that there should be no secrets in this home as there is no shame there. Though this is incredibly troubling subject matter the delicate and subtle way the movie approaches it is masterful and demonstrates again why I think this is one of if not the best films to come out in 2022. As the film approaches its end both the audience and Cait nervously anticipate her having to return to her family where she was shown to have been very withdrawn in stark contrast to the outgoing and high spirited young girl she has become at the farm over the summer.

It was hard to imagine this film having a happy ending based on the troubling subject matter above mentioned though the film does manage to achieve this better than I could have imagined. At the end of the film Cait is returned to her family and immediately her father is shown to have both gambling and alcohol problems in a house filled with unease. When the couple that had been caring for Cait begin to drive off leaving her behind Cait again begins running, as she had several times before with Sean to get the mail, in the direction of their car. When she gets to Sean they embrace in a hug only for her father to be seen approaching angrily behind them which Cait alerts him to by saying “daddy” nervously. However, the next time she says “daddy” as she hugs Sean it is warmer and shows that she now identifies him as her father and just then the movie cuts to black leaving some ambiguity as to the true nature of the film’s end.

This is an amazing film with several interesting layers and amazing performances to go along with a unique story. Not to mention the 4:3 aspect ratio, wonderful cinematography, and calming music that combine to make one of the most heartwarming movies I have seen. I gave this movie a perfect 10/10.

Here is the trailer for the film.