[ARROWS WHOOSHING]
[WATER LAPPING]
[WATER LAPPING CONTINUES]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
All painting, my father said
is a process of seeing.
"At first, there is only light
and chaos, Nicholas.
"Colours.
"Shapes.
"Slowly, an emergence.
"And at last...
"you see."
You never met him, my father.
The closest he got
to your island
a painting he made
looking toward it.
But because of him...
and because of that painting
I found you
and the meaning of my life.
For the first 17 years
of my life
my father was a civil servant.
Until, one empty afternoon
God spoke to him
for the first time.
[CLOCK TICKS]
[GENTLE MUSIC]
He told my father
to be a painter
and said not one word more.
[CHAIR SCRAPES]
Mr Coughlan?
Mr Coughlan!
- [PHONE RINGS]
[IMPASSIONED VOCALISATION]
[LAUGHTER AND
INDISTINCT CHATTER IN IRISH]
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
Just as God entered our life
on a western island
on the far side of the country
he left yours.
I imagined that island
before I saw it.
You, the poet's daughter
and your brother
on the last day of childhood...
[IN IRISH]:
Go!
[SHE LAUGHS]
Oi, oi, oi, oi!
[IN IRISH]:
[HE PLAYS A TRADITIONAL TUNE]
[WIND GUSTS HEAVILY]
[MUSIC CONTINUES]
[SHARP NOTE, MUSIC STOPS]
[SEAN GRUNTS]
- Seanie?
[HE GRUNTS]
- Seanie...
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
Dad?
[APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS]
[GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING ON RADIO]
[BETTE]:
What's happened?
What's wrong?
Nothing.
Nothing at all is wrong.
Then why are you home?
The dinner's not even ready...
- Bette. Bette, come sit down.
Come sit down now, please.
I'm not going back
to the office.
I'm finished working there.
What?
- I'm going to paint.
You're not serious.
I'm going to sell paintings.
I don't believe you.
William?
William?
- [FOOTSTEPS SCUFFLE]
[RADIO CLICKS OFF]
Don't I have some
sort of say in this?
People don't just come home
from work one day
and say they're
not going to go back.
You can't,
you can't say that and mean it.
I do mean it.
All this time, I've been living
the wrong life.
But now, I have a chance.
I don't know what you're saying.
Am I wrong?
No...
Is Nicholas wrong?
No.
You're the only parts
I got right.
Oh, William...
you're frightening me.
[SHE BREATHES SHAKILY]
I can't... I can't hear this.
I'm making the tea...
- Bette.
Bette, come here.
Come here, Bette.
Come here.
I have to.
I have to paint.
Do you understand?
It's what I'm supposed to do.
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
Why...
I did not ask.
For I was a son who could not
speak to his father.
There was love
but no language between us.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[WAVES LAPPING]
[IN IRISH]:
[MARGARET]: It feels like
we're banishing her.
We...
we could get her to stay
for a year.
I could just...
I-I-I could say that...
we... we need her at home.
Mm-hm?
[SHE SIGHS]
Doesn't feel right, either.
It's only that once
she's gone away to school
she'll never be the same.
None of them ever are.
They leave their childhood here
come back only to visit it.
So...
we will keep her, then.
For... for a year.
Hm?
We can't do that.
It's her life.
She's to go then.
[FIRE CRACKLING]
Oh, and you're not
to give her the talk.
What talk?
That schoolmaster talk you give
every child leaving the island.
"Show them how special you are.
Show them what an islander is."
You're not to go
soppy on her, either.
Be hard enough for her
to leave Seanie.
There's... there's fresh scones.
Don't let your father
eat them all.
[LAUGHS]
[GENTLE MUSIC]
[SHIP'S HORN BLASTS]
Um...
The ferry won't wait.
[GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES]
[IN IRISH]:
You're an island girl.
You're not the same as them.
There'll be girls from...
from the city there
but you'll show them.
[IN IRISH]:
I haven't been able
to write any poetry since...
Over here.
Make sure that you write
to your mother.
You know how she is.
[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]
[MOTHER SUPERIOR]: Mother
Superior is my name, girls.
This is Sister Agnes.
If you follow her,
she will show you where to go.
This way, girls.
And, uh, this...
this is my daughter, Isabel.
Very good.
[MELANCHOLY MUSIC]
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
God wanted my father to paint.
But not, it seemed,
the small, neat pictures
he had done before.
These were to be
his life's work.
Nothing less than sublime
expressions of supreme love.
But in a suburban house
in Dublin
no such expressions
were conceivable.
And one morning, he left us
for the mythical west.
There, the paintings would come.
For three months,
my mother and I lived
in the shadow
of my father's absence
and discovered...
there was no God.
For piece by piece,
our lives fell apart.
And so, it seemed,
did my mother's mind.
...one as the sea
and the sky
You like him, though, Daddy,
don't you?
He wrote me a love letter.
"You must know that I cannot
imagine my life without you.
"I see you standing
under the street light
"and it seems as if
I can hardly breathe.
"Everything of this world
"that is beautiful to me
is bound up in you."
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
We were lost.
Both of us locked in the prison
of a single question.
What if he did not return?
[AGNES CHATTERS INDISTINCTLY]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[CROW CAWS]
Y'alright there?
- [MUSIC PLAYS ON CAR RADIO]
Yeah.
D'you need a hand?
No.
Alright.
[GATE CLANKS]
- Ow!
Well, are you gonna
help me or not?
Put your hand
on my shoulder, yeah.
Both of them.
Legs go first. Yeah.
[SHE SIGHS]
- Alright.
[MUSIC CONTINUES ON CAR RADIO]
You sure you don't need a lift?
It's freezing.
I don't mind taking you
anywhere you want to go.
Anywhere?
Come home, Lady Luck
I need redemption
I'm so broke
Can't even pay attention
No
Come on home
[MUSIC CONTINUES ON CAR RADIO]
[RADIO STOPS]
- [HE HUMS]
Come on, lads.
Come on, boys. Come on.
Come on. Come on!
Come on...
[HE COOS]
God help me, boys.
Hello!
Hello.
Sorry. They're not, uh...
Oh, no, they're beautiful.
You'd know.
[LAUGHS]
[HE HUMS]
You will kneel here
until these candles burn out.
Until you consider
the consequences of your actions
and feel a full contrition.
[RECEDING FOOTSTEPS]
[FRONT DOOR SHUTS]
- [TEA POURS]
[FAINT MUMBLING]
Oh...
Hello, Nicholas.
How are you?
- Fine.
Of course you are.
Oh.
Aye. They're not finished.
What was it like?
The west?
Oh...
You'll see it someday.
Where's your mother?
She stays in her room now.
But I could go and get her.
No, wait.
She'll want to know you're home.
Aye.
- See the paintings. Maybe.
Aye. There you go.
Go get us a cake.
Hm?
[NICHOLAS, VO]: While he was
gone, I hated my father.
The moment he returned
I forgave him.
Now we would be released
back into normal life.
[DISTANT WAIL]
Oh...
[SOLEMN MUSIC]
[WILLIAM SOBS]
Oh, my love...
Oh, please...
Forgive me...
Oh...
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
It was the end.
I prayed to my mother.
Help us.
[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]
I wash, you dry.
I have something for you.
I got this in Galway once.
I was reading it and I thought
this is for Nicholas.
I...
I can't explain why.
I'm not much of a poet.
See what you think.
[GENTLE MUSIC]
Seven days.
What?
I'll go to the west and paint
for seven days.
Can I come with you?
- No.
You need to stay in school.
Pass the exams.
I...
I can't afford nice places,
Nicholas.
I sleep out.
It's damp and it's cold.
Just one week.
- Why?
I can't explain to you why.
I...
can't explain to anybody why.
But I know it's
something I have to do.
Why can't you be
like everyone else?
I have to try again, Nicholas.
I have to go.
I have to be in life.
I have to...
I have to make life.
It's about beauty
and... and mystery,
and your spirit.
And something in you
which can't be denied.
And which I have,
up to now, failed.
I have completely
and utterly failed.
[GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES]
[WAVES LAPPING]
[ACCORDION PLAYS]
[IN IRISH]:
[SOLEMN MUSIC]
You!
I'm talking to You.
The almighty You.
Why not me?
Why didn't You pick on me?
Pick me! Cure him!
Come on, You b*stard.
Show Your face!
[THUNDER RUMBLES]
- [DOG BARKS IN DISTANCE]
Oh, why don't You strike me?
I'm ready for You!
Hey.
Hey, hey, hey, hey.
Come on home.
Yes?
Don't You dare strike him.
[AGNES]: You have to
come with me now, dear.
It's Uncle Johnny, Isabel.
Our prayers go with you, child.
We are deeply sorry
for your loss.
He was elderly?
He was, Mother.
He put up a brave fight.
If we had more notice
Sister Agnes or myself
would have accompanied you.
But your cousin...
Peader, Mother.
Peader says that the funeral
is to be at noon.
I'm to take you, Issy
if the sisters will allow.
I'll have her back
by evening, Mother.
Thank you for your
understanding, Mother.
Thank you, Agnes.
[DOOR OPENS]
[DOOR CREAKS AND SLAMS SHUTS]
Wait.
Wait.
[ENGINE STARTS]
A bit of respect for the dead,
you know.
[HE CHUCKLES]
- [TYRES SQUEAL]
[THEY SNIGGER]
[IRISH MUSIC PLAYING]
To Uncle Johnny.
- To Uncle Johnny.
[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]
I was his favourite, you know.
Oh.
Oh, you were, were ya?
Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah.
Yeah, he loved me.
- He loved you?
What did he love about you?
[ROCK 'N' ROLL PLAYS ON JUKEBOX]
My dancing.
[HE CHUCKLES]
But our love
is gonna grow-oh-oh
Higher than the mountain,
grow-oh-oh
Wider than the ocean,
grow-oh-oh
Deeper than the deepest sea
(Deepest sea, deepest sea)
Come here
Let me tell you
something in your ear
It'll make you feel good
At least I think it should
It's our love
is gonna grow-oh-oh
Higher than the mountain,
grow-oh-oh
Wider than the ocean,
grow-oh-oh
Deeper than the deepest sea
(Deepest sea, deepest sea)
We'll always be united
No matter how far
we're apart...
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[TYRES SQUEAL]
It could take two days
for the funeral.
You know...
Uncle Johnny'd merit that.
I am going to take two days.
Only I'm going home.
Let me bring you to the ferry.
When will I see you again?
I'll k*ll all your cousins!
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[DRIVER]:
Last off. Last off.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
In a different love story
we meet here,
and the moment matters.
I saw you
but did not see you that day.
[WATER LAPPING]
[WAVES LAPPING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
Dad.
Dad!
[HE GASPS]
Dad!
Dad!
Dad!
[WATER ROARS]
Dad!
Dad!
[MUFFLED SOUND]
Dad!
[MUFFLED SOUND]
There now.
There now.
Alright?
Breathe now.
Breathe. There you go.
[HE CHUCKLES]
Well, Nicholas.
It seems God isn't finished
with either of us, huh?
It's all good.
[GENTLE MUSIC]
[SHIP'S HORN BLASTS]
[ISABEL]: That's it...
Hiya, Chris!
[IN IRISH]:
Oh, yeah!
Only for a day or so.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Get on, Zeus, go on home.
- [DOG BARKS]
[MARGARET]:
"He'd often thought it strange
that Vincent Heron
had a bird's face
as well as a bird's name.
A shock of..."
[SHE GASPS]
You're back!
But...
What, are you not happy
to see me?
Zeus is very happy to see me.
And Seanie is very happy
to see me too, aren't you?
[IN IRISH]:
Why are you home, Isabel?
What? It's a break!
Two days.
Oh! Alright. It was lovely
to see you too, Margaret.
Me and Seanie will be
off now for a walk.
No more muffins here, huh?
[MARGARET]:
What do you think, Zeus?
And then he gave me
a lift in his red car.
I don't know...
Do you think
I'll marry him one day?
And then we'll have, like,
a little girl
running around the place
or a little boy.
And then he'd be a big
mammy's boy like yourself.
So if you look very carefully
out at that island
that is the island of
the sleeping giant.
Ye can go home.
[CHILDREN GIGGLE AND CHATTER]
There you are.
[MUIRIS]: Oh...
Ah...
I told them that you were unwell
and I had to come home
which is not exactly
what I told Mammy.
Well, I wasn't feeling
great in myself
but I feel a lot better now.
- [THEY CHUCKLE]
[WIND GUSTS]
She's... she's home.
Be happy.
But why would they
let her home for two days?
Maybe they were disinfecting
the place or something.
It doesn't matter.
She's home, that's all.
There's more to it.
Do you hear me?
Muiris?
Well, sorry...
Sorry, darling.
I must have fallen asleep.
What is it, darling?
Nothing.
Nothing?
- No. Doesn't matter.
Right.
Good night, so.
I don't know, I feel...
I feel something's happening.
Well, that would be...
probable.
You're useless.
You're a completely useless man.
You know that?
- I do.
Listen to me.
Lord, how you worry.
You worry when she's here.
You worry when she's not here.
That's what you do.
That's how you love her.
I should know some songs
to sing, Nicholas.
Do you know any songs?
I know some Latin.
Say it.
[GENTLE MUSIC]
Aurea prima sata est aetas
qua vindice nullo sponte sua
sine lege fidem
rectumque colebat.
Poena metusque aberant
nec verba minantia
fixo aere legebantur
nec supplex turba
timebat iudicis ora sui
sed erant sine vindici...
tuti.
Beautiful.
[IN IRISH]:
[HE REPEATS]
I have it.
You're going to be late.
Shh, shh!
- What're you doing?
[MARGARET]: Oh, God preserve...
It wrote itself!
It did. It wrote itself.
[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
When he painted, my father
was as purely himself
as he ever was.
And I as close to him
as I would be.
To these days, I am to return
again and again
throughout my life.
For in them
is the imminence of love
and my first understanding
that I want to be a writer.
Me in the dunes,
reading poems of fated love
and the magic of language
while my father
painted your island
as if following instruction.
[MELANCHOLY
VOCALISING CONTINUES]
Right. Let's go.
[NICHOLAS, VO]: You carry
this one, my father said.
Leaving, I knew I carried more
than just the painting.
[CHICKENS CLUCK]
Here we go now.
Ah...
Ah...
It's a great comfort
having you here, Nicholas.
I'm glad you came.
[THUNDER RUMBLES]
[KETTLE WHISTLES]
- [FAINT POP MUSIC ON RADIO]
What is it?
Dad?
Jesus, shite!
[THUNDER CRACKS]
[COWS MOO]
[COWS BELLOW]
[SOLEMN MUSIC]
[COWS MOO]
[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]
In this world, there's no
such thing as chance, Nicholas.
This is how it was meant to be.
[SOLEMN MUSIC CONTINUES]
[CHURCH BELL RINGS]
It turns out that you have
no Uncle Johnny.
It turns out...
that you are a sinful girl
who has brought shame
on her family
and on your school.
[LOCK CLICKS]
[GENTLE MUSIC]
[NICHOLAS, VO]: It felt like
falling from the edge of a cliff
and you were plunged
into the first moments
of your own story.
[BIRD SINGS]
My father did not paint again.
His last painting,
the one I had carried
he had wrapped in brown paper.
And then he waited.
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
I worked with your father
in the civil service.
Is he, er...
Is it a bad time?
I can call back.
I'll call back.
- No, no, it's...
You're just the first person
who's ever called to see him.
He's through here.
Dad?
Dad.
Hello, William.
John.
I meant to call sooner.
[NICHOLAS]: I'll make some tea.
- No, no, thank you, but...
Yes, well...
Actually,
I'm here to buy a painting.
Aye.
I'm sorry.
- It's for a prize.
There's no painting for sale.
But here you go.
You can have this one for free.
Please take the money.
It's free...
but it's not for sale.
Please.
Go on now.
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
And just like that
he gave away the painting
to become a prize
in a poetry competition.
Peader?
[DOOR SHUTS]
- [BELL JINGLES]
Peader?
[WOMAN]:
Who's out there?
Sorry. I was just
looking for Peader.
He's not here.
Do you know
if he'll be back soon?
Are you in trouble?
No.
Cos I wouldn't put it past him.
He's up in the pub.
Sick over some...
b*tch.
Thanks.
[POP MUSIC PLAYS ON JUKEBOX]
Erm...
Erm... I've been expelled.
Just wanted to tell you.
Isabel, wait.
I've got a whole shop
waiting for you.
[NICHOLAS]: My mind inclines me
to speak of forms
changed into new bodies.
Before the sea and...
the earth...
and the heaven
which covers all things...
[GENTLE MUSIC]
there was an appearance
in the whole orb of nature
which they called Chaos.
Nicholas, I do appreciate
your linguistic brilliance
but I will need to see
your translation in written form
in order to correct it.
[DISTANT VOICE]
Nicholas!
[FIRE CRACKLES]
You can't go in there!
[CROWD MUTTERS]
- [OFFICER]: Come on now.
[HE SCREAMS]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[NICHOLAS, VO]: The second time
God spoke to my father
it was with fire.
[FIRE ROARS]
He swept into our house
with tongues of flame.
And told him that his life's
work was done.
He took my father in His arms
and bore him away
through the air.
Or... none of this was true.
An electrical fire
had started in the kitchen
and smoke had overwhelmed him.
The whole story meant nothing.
His life and work a mistake.
And nothing he had done
mattered at all.
[TYPEWRITER CLACKING]
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]
Now...
[NICHOLAS]: Thank you.
I don't want to...
Well...
And there's no need at all.
No, no need.
You want me to leave?
No, no. In fact,
I'd say it's the opposite.
No, no, no.
I want you to feel free,
completely free to ignore it.
Well...
I've worked at the office
for many years.
They promote you,
if you keep showing up.
I could...
I'm fairly sure I could,
if it was alright.
A position for you there.
If you...
Thank you, Mr Flannery.
I'll think about it.
Yes, of course.
Whenever.
Just, you know...
say it.
[SHE KNOCKS]
Hello, Mam.
[MARGARET CHUCKLES]
[BELL JINGLES]
Well, so...
Tell me.
[SHE SIGHS]
I... I don't know what it is.
He's not what
I imagined he'd be.
But it's never the same, is it?
The person that you imagined
beforehand
and the real one who's now there
beside you every day.
Not that he is here most days.
Sometimes he just disappears.
But he's busy.
He's working hard
for the shop and for our future.
I see.
Mammy, he is very funny.
And he does sometimes
turn up with flowers.
[INDISTINCT CHATTERING OUTSIDE]
You are...
You're so young.
I'm perfectly capable.
You know, I run the shop.
Oh, yes.
You know...
there is no stopped clock
of the heart
in which happiness holds.
There is an emptying as much
as a filling of the heart.
And for it to last a lifetime
it has to be immense
at the start.
I'm thinking of repainting.
I've reorganised
the tweed in the back
and I've made those displays.
And, um, new customers will...
I mean--
- Are you pregnant?
I'm sorry.
Sorry.
I love him.
I love him.
[SHIP'S HORN BLASTS]
[DISTANT CHATTER]
Thanks.
[MUIRIS]: Well?
She's alright.
Oh, thank God for that.
She thinks she's in love.
Dinner.
Who was your visitor?
My mam.
- Oh.
Come to see the place
you think you'll get your
hands on, I suppose?
No, Maire.
She just come to see me.
He won't, you know.
He's cursed.
He falls out of love every time.
He falls out
as soon as you've fallen in.
[MAIRE CHUCKLES]
[DISTANT CHATTER, MUSIC PLAYING]
[DOOR OPENS]
- [BELL JINGLES]
There she is.
Do you love me?
Do you love me?
You know the answer.
[ISABEL]: You love me?
Say it.
Say it.
- What?
Tell me you love me.
Say it.
- Stop.
Tell me you love me.
Why won't you say it?
Say it. Say it.
- Stop, Issy.
Tell me you love me!
Tell me you love me!
- Stop.
Tell me you love me...
Shut up!
Jesus...
Who do you think I am?
I'm sorry, Jesus, Issy.
I...
I didn't want her to hear.
I don't care
if your mother hears!
I'm sorry...
You looked at me
like you hated me.
I don't hate you.
I don't.
I hate me.
I hate me.
I'm a...
I'm useless.
I'm the person that
my mother told you I am.
I'm empty and I'm useless,
and...
You should not love me.
You're alright.
Marry me.
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
The snow, they said
came from the west that night.
It never came from the west.
[GENTLE MUSIC]
But now it was falling generally
across the whole country.
An immense sky letter.
Falling in fragments
soundless and slow.
But saying...
saying something
is what I felt.
[GENTLE VOCALISING]
The longer you look,
the more you see.
I want to go with you.
Aurea prima sata est aetas
qua vindice nullo...
Sponte sua, sine lege fidem
rectumqua colebat...
[VOICE FADES OUT]
[WILLIAM'S VOICE ECHOES]:
The golden age.
Remember?
Mr Flannery?
Mr Flannery?
Mr Flannery.
Where's the painting?
What?
- Where's the painting?
Out west.
[WISTFUL VOCALISING]
[WAVES CRASHING]
You know, I don't...
think that two people
can ever really fall in love.
I think... there's always one
who really falls.
And then the other one
sees that and...
and just gives in.
Which is not nothing.
It is something.
And they think
that maybe one day
they'll catch up,
and it'll happen.
They'll fall.
Be in love, too.
You're never sure
about anything, Seanie.
One day I am, and then
the next day I'm lost again.
[WIND GUSTS]
I...
I love him. I do.
In some ways.
And then in others, I don't.
Not at all.
Do you think that...
Do you think I'm doing
the wrong thing?
[GENTLE VOCALISING]
[IN IRISH]:
[WAVES CRASHING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[MARGARET HUMS]
[DOOR OPENS]
Where have you been?
There's lots to do.
Well, I'm back, aren't I?
Alright. I'm ready.
Mm-hmm.
[SHE GASPS]
What?
[FOOT TAPS]
Right.
I want you to listen to me
and say nothing.
When I met him
when he fell for me,
your father...
he said the poems
wrote themselves.
They poured out of him.
And I took that as a sign.
But when they stopped
that would have to be
a sign too.
I thought that love
was poetry and moonlight.
It's not.
Falling in love.
Well, that's the easy part.
The hard part is what follows.
You have to make a marriage.
The fact is...
wives,
they create their husbands.
They begin with the...
well, they begin with the
blundering and well-meaning
sometimes charming,
sometimes irresistible
handsomeness they have
fallen in love with.
And that is fine.
But then begins the work.
- [GENTLE MUSIC]
That work is years long.
Years.
Years.
In my case, 36 years
and counting.
Years of hard labour
to make the man
I could live with.
[WAVES CRASH]
[MUIRIS]:
Ah...
You look beautiful.
- [SHE CHUCKLES]
You do too, Daddy.
[IN IRISH]:
Jesus, Nora.
Give over, would you?
[MARGARET]: Nora, Nora,
come now. Leave off.
She's nervous.
[GENTLE MUSIC]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[GIRLS LAUGH]
[GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES]
[FAINT CHATTER]
[CHURCH BELL RINGS]
[CHURCH BELLS RING IN DISTANCE]
Excuse me?
I'm looking for Mr Gore.
It's up the road,
around the corner on the left.
Thank you.
[SEABIRDS CRY]
Right, we'll just get this off.
[SEAN RASPS]
- Wait. Hang on.
Rest back. It'll be alright.
Hello. Nicholas Coughlan.
Oh, sorry.
Here. Here, Sean...
It's not the best day
for a visit.
My daughter got married today.
What did you say your name was?
Nicholas.
I was told Muiris Gore wrote
the poem that won the painting.
My father painted it.
The competition? Hm!
He died.
I'd like to see it.
Well...
There's no fresh loaf, but...
there's a world of
cake and buns.
Will you have tea or something?
[NICHOLAS]: It's fine.
I don't need anything.
So you don't know Isabel?
[NICHOLAS]: Sorry?
My daughter, Isabel.
[NICHOLAS]: No,
I don't think so.
If you stay with Sean,
I'll get my husband.
Well, I could just
come back tomorrow.
No, he needs extracting
from where he is. Stay.
You're a godsend.
[DOOR SHUTS]
[LIVELY MUSIC PLAYS]
[GUEST]: Yeah, I have!
I've been to seven.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Enough of that shite.
I'll play something for you now.
Go on, Peader.
[PEADER]: This one goes out
to my darling Issy.
[GUITAR STRUMS]
In the summer
Of '62
Good day, Margaret.
- Beautiful.
Thanks, Billy.
Bloody hue
And a cradle empty...
We have a visitor.
Come on.
She walks these roads
Get some air.
In her wedding shoes
Turn the lights on
Seraphina
Lovely lady
Y'alright.
And she's walking
And dressed in black
She walks these roads...
[SHE SIGHS]
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
[GENTLE MUSIC]
[GENTLE VOCALISING]
[SEAN]:
Mm.
[GENTLE VOCALISING CONTINUES]
Mm...
Mmm...
[SOFT HUMMING]
You alright?
[HE HUMS FAINTLY]
[GENTLE VOCALISING CONTINUES]
It's okay.
[SEAN GASPS]
Okay?
Help me.
Will you help me stand up?
[GENTLE VOCALISING CONTINUES]
[SEAN GRUNTS]
Okay.
[SEAN BREATHES DEEPLY]
[DOOR OPENS]
Dad!
Mm... I...
I...
I... I can stand up.
I... I didn't do anything.
Wh-when did this happen?
How--
- [NICHOLAS]: Maybe, uh...
We were just talking.
Stop, stop! I don't want
any talk about this.
I don't want...
It's just bad luck.
It's... It's not right!
Uh...
[SEAN]:
See...
Sean?
- See...
[MARGARET]:
How... How are you feeling?
Yeah. You know, I feel...
I feel fine.
And you've no pain?
- No. No.
No pain?
- No. I...
Alright, get out!
Get out.
Get out.
[DOOR BANGS]
- [SEAN LAUGHS WEAKLY]
I am alright, Dad. Dad...
[SHE SOBS]
- I'm alright.
Oh!
Oh, thank God...
[MARGARET SOBS]
- There we are.
[MUFFLED SPEECH AND SOBS]
[IN IRISH]:
Oh!
- [THEY LAUGH]
[SEAN]: Come here!
[THEY LAUGH]
[HE CHUCKLES]
Get off! Let's see...
Careful there, Sean.
- No, I can... I can...
Come on.
Oh, good man.
- See?
[SHE SOBS AND LAUGHS]
You look great.
[THEY MUTTER]
You'll stay the night then?
Thank you.
And... and that painting?
It's yours.
Well, I can pay for it.
No.
It was already yours.
And thank you.
Good night.
Good night.
[BIRDS SING]
Thank you.
For... all this.
My mother was right, you're a...
you're a godsend.
I don't want you to leave.
It'll be okay.
I didn't do anything.
Well, what if you did?
[ISABEL]: Hello.
I was looking for you.
I saw you... on the bus.
It was you.
Yeah.
And what happened
to that other fella?
Oh, my husband?
- [SEAN CHUCKLES]
He went back on
the ferry with his mam.
He had to open the shop.
I'll be going back with him too
once I'm sure you're not
going to leave us again.
So, I ruined your honeymoon?
Ruined my life, yeah.
You're hilarious.
- [ISABEL]: I know.
Absolutely not.
If you can, you will.
Get up there now.
You're better at it than me.
- No, I'm not.
Go on! Family celebration.
No excuses anymore.
Don't know what
you're laughing at. Get up.
Tis a well-known, proven fact
that poets do not
peel vegetables.
Or do plumbing.
But they do write poems.
And you're starting a new one,
aren't you, Dad?
I am, darling. I am.
- Mm!
God help us all.
Try carrots.
Oh.
Everyone's so quiet.
Just can't believe it's you.
Sure, who else would it be?
It's him alright.
So, Peader couldn't stay?
Uh...
No.
[MARGARET]:
No, no. Not with the shop.
And, of course, his mother.
Nah.
So, you'll be
going back directly, no?
You're just wed.
Sure luck, I'll have the
rest of my life
to be doing that.
Do you think
you can still play, Sean?
I...
I don't know.
He can.
I'll bet he can.
Do you remember this?
Come on.
- [SEAN]: Alright.
[WHISTLE PLAYS TENTATIVELY]
[HE PLAYS JOYFUL TUNE]
[MARGARET LAUGHS]
Thank you.
[THEY CHUCKLE]
[THEY SQUEAK HAPPILY]
[ISABEL]: Come on!
[JOYFUL MUSIC]
[MUIRIS]:
Good man, Sean.
I tell you...
Where's... where's the butter?
[MARGARET]: Oh, God.
Your father's gone blind.
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
I could not breathe
when you sat at the dinner table
and touched my hand.
I could not think.
If there are moments
on which lives turn
I knew this was one of mine.
But that I would fail it.
Do you play, Nicholas, or do you
paint like your father?
Oh, Nicholas reads poetry.
What?
He told me.
Is that right?
I-I want to thank you both
for your kindness, but...
I'm gonna go.
Well, you can't go.
Cos there's no ferry
until tomorrow.
Well, don't look
so disappointed.
It might hurt my feelings.
Can you not feel
what's happening?
Why do you always think
something is happening?
Hmm?
A woman has intuition.
- Oh.
It's in the place where
a man has stubbornness.
Well, why don't you intuit
how to go to sleep?
Hmm?
- Huh.
I'll stay another day or two
if that's okay.
Of course, that's alright.
It's alright, isn't it, Ma?
Of course it's alright.
Margaret?
Of course.
You're going back to Peader
today, aren't you?
Um, maybe tomorrow.
Uh, we're going for a walk
down the cliffs.
Okay.
You're not.
Why not, Mam?
Mam...
I'll be alright.
He'll be alright.
It'll be fine...
Margaret.
Are you coming?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Right.
I'll race you.
You came back to us,
only not all your brain did.
You have to be careful.
[IN IRISH]:
[THEY CHUCKLE]
Go!
Woo!
There's nothing here but sand
and rocks and sea, and yet...
once you've been here,
you can never leave.
You go anywhere else,
and it follows you.
You love it.
Even when I hate it.
[WAVES CRASH]
[SEAN]:
Hey, Issy.
What?
What?
[SHE LAUGHS]
[GENTLE MUSIC]
How is it that everywhere
is full of water
but there's not a drop in here?
I'll have a look at it later.
Oh...
if you took a look
at all the things
you said you'd look at later...
Then I wouldn't
have eyes left for you.
Mm.
Muiris Gore.
I don't know what you are.
Oh, I don't know
what I am either.
But I know what you are...
Margaret Gore.
[FOOTSTEPS ON STAIRS]
Y'alright?
I don't know.
Ah, sure...
None of us
really know anything.
You... you find a road, and...
you walk along it
as best you can.
[GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES]
[TIMID MUSIC]
I'm looking for an envelope.
You're not well.
I just need to post this.
No, you... you need to lie down.
I didn't get to say goodbye.
Post goes at three.
You go rest,
I'll take it to the post office.
I've got a...
I've got a letter
to send myself. Um...
[NICHOLAS]:
I can take yours.
It's not finished.
Oh, well.
I'll just take this then.
[DOOR OPENS]
[DOOR SHUTS]
[WOMAN]: Hey, Margaret.
We had your visitor
in with us already.
Well, that's it, Aine.
I, uh...
Well, he posted a letter
to Isabel.
Would you mind
giving it back to me?
I was to put a note in it
before he...
Rushing about, he was?
Yes.
I told him there'd be
no rushing about here.
No! I'll... just take it home
bring it back for
tomorrow's collection.
Once it's crossed over here,
it's posted.
Maybe you could write
another note for your letter.
It's just the cost of a stamp.
No, I'll just...
Thank you, Aine.
[FIRE CRACKLES]
"Dear Isabel.
"I write these words on the page
"to feel your eyes
reading them."
[NICHOLAS, VO]: I write them
because what I have to say
I cannot say.
And I cannot breathe
if I do not say it.
[GENTLE MUSIC]
I see your face and
for the first time in my life
the world makes sense.
- "...makes sense."
Oh, God.
[NICHOLAS, VO]: A sign.
Any sign that there is hope.
What are you looking
at me like that for?
You're the one who let her
marry the wrong man.
[WAVES CRASH]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[NICHOLAS, VO]:
I close my eyes and wait
and you are here.
Past and present
at the same time.
Here and not here.
If I've offended you
my letter upset or hurt you,
I'm sorry.
The truth is,
I couldn't live and not say it.
The truth is,
I have more to say to you
than would take a lifetime.
[SEAN]: Hey.
Where are you going?
I am going to post this
for himself.
Oh! I'm going myself.
Give it here.
Have some pie.
Grand.
I'll be back!
[SEAN]:
Thank God.
I hardly got a chance
to sit down all day.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
I will not let you destroy
my daughter's life.
Has any letter come?
No. No.
She rarely writes.
I never get any letters.
[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]
Can you post this to her?
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
You're looking a bit feverish.
I think you have what he has.
Why don't you go to bed?
What are you doing?
I'm writing a love poem.
Oh, what is the matter with
everyone in this house?
You're impossible.
You're an impossible man.
Aren't they the best kind,
though?
He needs to take
the painting and go home.
Well, maybe he is home.
Oh, God!
[FOOTSTEPS STOMP LOUDLY]
[HE SNORES]
[GENTLE MUSIC]
[GENTLE VOCALISING]
[NICHOLAS MURMURS IN DISTANCE]
[NICHOLAS]:
...fourth letter of love.
[NICHOLAS CONTINUES MUTTERING]
[DOOR SLAMS]
- [SHE GASPS]
[GENTLE VOCALISING CONTINUES]
Alright.
Nicholas.
Nicholas.
This is the...
This is the poem that...
Muiris wrote.
It brought your father's
painting here.
"Scrobhfaidh me ceithre litir
ghr duit."
"I will write you
four letters of love."
"Agus tiocfaidh tu."
"And you will come."
[GENTLE MUSIC]
[SHE SIGHS]
I'm sorry!
Your letters were never posted!
It doesn't matter!
[WISTFUL VOCALISING]
[WAVES LAPPING]
[NICHOLAS, VO]: The world is,
after all, quite simple.
There is grief and loss
and suffering...
but also love.
I am my father's son.
And so say.
There is sense to everything.
For how can there not be?
The world fits together.
I am choosing to believe.
And in choosing...
feel here is what
is supposed to be.
And though, like all of us
at every moment, I did not know
what would happen next...
I did not know
how tomorrow would go
or where the story
would take us.
What I did know...
was that both of our stories
were one.
[WISTFUL VOCALISING]
And that loving you
was what I was supposed to do.
[WISTFUL VOCALISING CONTINUES]
[UPLIFTING MUSIC]
Island rose
Island of dreaming hearts
Madness grows
Thoughts of you rip me apart
A poet's daughter
Came from the water
Sing me another love song
Sing me another song of love
I'm chaos burning in fire
and yearning
Sing me another love song
The plot, the world
resolves into bounteous spring
The painter knows
The painter sees everything
They paint a song
I am lost but I am found
Sing me another love song
Sing me another song of love
I'm chaos burning in fire
and yearning
Sing me another love song
I scout the earth to find half
of my missing soul
For love won't die
It shapeshifts
to fit the mould
Sky letters above
Teach four letters of love
Sing me another love song
Sing me another song of love
I'm chaos burning in fire
and yearning
Sing me another love song
And there is no sure death
in love's arms
As there is no
stopped clock of the heart
And you are my breath,
I am your love
Because both are stories
I wrote
Sing me another love song
Sing me another song of love
I am chaos burning in fire
and yearning
Sing me another love song
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Four Letters of Love (2024)
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