Criticism of ‘The Quiet Girl’, the emotion of simplicity

Sometimes, less is more. Here is a film that uses simplicity as its best asset, but, be careful, behind this cleanliness we find a gifted new director –Colm Bairéad, in his debut in the fiction feature film–, full of sensitivity and a prodigious rigor when composing each shot. ‘The Quiet Girl’ is based on ‘Three Lights’, a short novel by author Claire Keegan, and takes us to rural Ireland in the 80s to tell the story of a girl, Cáit –played by the also newcomer Catherine Clinch , memorable–, who lives with his family in conditions of practically abandonment. Her mother has to take care of the successive children she is having and her father is an absent figure who worries more about drinking and creating a toxic environment at home than anything else. Before the arrival of the next baby, Cáit will be taken to spend the summer on the farm of her mother’s cousin and her husband, a wealthy couple who have nothing to do with hers and thanks to whom she will know the love and the protection.

The Secret in Their Eyes

The director uses the girl’s point of view to delve into the story. Through her sad eyes we will see the world that surrounds her and we will approach her feeling of misunderstanding and orphanhood in a deeply sensitive way. And that’s when we witness the miracle, that of how to tell the uprooting through the smallest details, through minimalist observation, which are translated into formal questions in a sequential planning as precise as it is neat and honest.

Sound of silence

‘The Quiet Girl’ has the particularity (which also constitutes a rarity) of being spoken in the Irish language, but, nevertheless, it is not in the words where its genius lies, but in the silences, in that ability to enter the loneliness of the protagonist through the enigma of silence that hides a host of secrets, hidden fears unable to verbalize. This tale about childhood, about the importance of affection, as crude as it is deeply empathetic, is endowed with an unusual delicacy, in which we do not find an iota of cynicism, but only generosity and virtue, sensitivity without affectation.and that delves into trauma, into the spirit of survival in the face of helplessness, in a profoundly beautiful way.

For lovers of small films and full of silent poetry

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DATA SHEET

Address: Colm Bairead Distribution: Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett, Michael Patric Country: Ireland Year: 2022 Release date: 24–2-2023 Gender: Drama Script: Colm Bairead Duration: 95 min.

Synopsis: Cáit is a reserved nine-year-old girl who is neglected by her poor, dysfunctional and too large family. She quietly deals with difficulties at school and at home, and has learned to blend in with those around her. When summer arrives and her mother’s due date approaches, she Cáit is sent to live with distant relatives.