THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

UK, 2022, 114 minutes, Colour.

Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Pat Shortt, Barry Keoghan, Sheila Flinton, Gary Lydon, Jon Kenny.

Directed by Martin McDonagh.

One character remarks that there are no banshees in Inisherin. Actually there is one, Mrs McCormick, hovering at times on the side of the road, glowering at characters, warning that the death is at hand – which, is what banshees do.

The setting is 1923, an island off the West Coast of Ireland, sounds of the Civil War coming from the mainland. But, given something of the Irish temperament, there can be civil and uncivil wars even in a small village. Which is the case here. And the camera has wonderful vistas of the island, land and sea, the beaches. And Irish music and melodies.

This is a film by playwright Martin McDonagh who made more than his mark with his wry comedies,ith some violent action, In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. McDonagh has a way with words, plenty of them, comic and serious, daft and menacing… He knows how to set up characters, make them interesting, even tantalising. And he knows how to set up crises and conflicts.

Banshees is billed as both comedy and drama. The drama is obvious when the simple Padraic makes a friendly gesture towards his longtime friend, Colm, he is rejected. “I don’t like you know more.” Baffled, what is Padraic to do – ask, probe, push, stay in his bewilderment? On the other hand, Colm not only wants to ignore him, wants him out of his life, no more sitting in the pub drinking, no more conversations, Colm is conscious of mortality and wants more time to himself, especially with his fiddle, playing in the pub, composing, standing on the shore for inspiration. And, seemingly Blarney, but ultimately definitely not Blarney, he threatens to chop off a finger a day if Paraic keeps talking to him.

With Mrs McCormick and her touch of the banshee utterance, this may be a comedy, but it is story full of melancholy, friendship, the friendship lost, of putting people down, of self-assertion, even to violent excess in banshee fashion.

Colin Farrell won best actor at the Venice film Festival, 2022. He has had a very varied but successful career. He is the less than smart Padraic. Colm is played by Brendan Gleeson, always reliable, always interesting. (They both appeared in In Bruges.) Kerry Condon is very good as Padraic’s sister, wanting much more out of life than she can find on the island.

And, in a subplot which becomes intricately linked with the main story, there is Barry Keoghan as the young son of the local policeman, subject to his father’s violence, not always right in the head, dreaming of what might be, and another reminder of the banshee’s presaging death.

So, if the audience is anticipating an Irish laugh, there are some comic moments. However, it is the melancholy which pervades, the mystery of the broken friendship, the bewildered attempts at reconciliation and their failure, and, ultimately, the destructive side of rejection and melancholy.

1. The title, arresting? Irish? Banshees and Irish folklore? The Irish setting?
2. Location photography, 1923, the village on the island, the landscapes on the island, the water, the beach, the view of the mainland? The musical score, Colm and his songs, compositions, moods?
3. The work of the director, talent with dialogue, characters, situations, conflicts? Wry observations of human nature?
4. 1923, the Civil War on the mainland, sounds and sights of war, life on the island away from the war, comments on the war, sides? The irony of the many Civil War between Padraic and Colm on the island?
5. Audiences understanding the past, Padraic, his age, on the farm with the cows, living with his sister, the one room, poor? His limitations, personality, rather slow? At the pub, friends there, the friendship with Colm ?
6. Padraic, Colin Farrell’s performance, age, mental capacity, looking after the cows, the farm, the bond with his sister, discussions with her, her trying to help him? The shock of hearing from Colm that he they are friends no more? The scenes of them together, Padraic trying to talk to Colm, ignoring him, Padraic intrusive, the threat about cutting off the finger, Padraic’s intervention, and the cutting of the finger, and the finger at the house? The repercussions, his sister trying to help, Dominic trying to help, the antagonism of the policeman?: Cutting off more fingers, the finger and the choking of Jenny the donkey? The effect on Padraic, assertion, threats, the burning down of the house, saving the dog, the fire and the preparation, setting it alight, Colm sitting in the fire – but then on the beach? No reconciliation, Civil War, but the thanks for looking after the dog? Padraic saying that revenge would be right only if Colm died?
7. Colm, his age, place in the village, musician, composing, playing, the group coming from the mainland and playing with him in the pub, the composer, the friendship, Padraic and his telling the musician that his father died and get him off the island? Colm wanting time to himself, to compose, not wasting time talking with Padraic? Saying they weren’t friends anymore, finding Padraic more intrusive, cutting off the finger after the threat? The further interventions, Padraic desperate? The cutting off of the fingers, his playing with one hand? The threat, the donkey choking on the finger, the house set alight, Colm the house, but then on the shore with his fiddle?
8. Padraic and his sister, her wanting more from the island, her decision to leave, Dominic and his proposal and her gently letting him down, on the boat, to the mainland?
9. Dominic, young, not so smart, brutalised by his father, abused? Friendship with Padraic, intervening? The proposal to Siobhan? The accusations against his father? Mrs McCormick and leading the policeman to the water, the death of his son?
10. The people in the village, especially at the pub, serving the pub, friends, observing, the music?
11. Mrs McCormick, watching, threats of death, the role of the banshee?
12. The film described as a tragicomedy?