A lyrical adaptation of Padraic Standuin’s novel ‘Suil le Breith’ in which the priest (Donal McCann) serving a remote island community rescues a lost young woman (Maggie Fegan) who becomes first his housekeeper and then his lover. Her pregnancy forces their relationship into the open and causes divisions in the formerly united community. Except for a framing device shot in colour, with sound, the film is shot in black and white with intertitles, much in the style of a film from the silent era. It was subsequently revisited as ‘The Bishop’s Story’ in 1994.
‘Yeah. We didn’t have to say anything at all the first time doing that, it was great. Bottles of stout and move your lips, that was nice.’ – Donal McCann, 1998. ‘Words fail me. It’s great but it was jinxed from the start. God disapproved.’ – Bob Quinn, 2003
(1987, 80mins)