A remarkable debut feature from directors Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, Helen is the story of an alienated young woman who wrestles with assuming another’s identity rather than holding to her own. Having grown up in a care home, Helen (Annie Townsend) finds herself on the threshold of two different lives as she turns eighteen. Just as she is allowed access to the files that will reveal her heritage, she participates in a police reconstruction appearing as missing teenager Joy Thompson and, through meetings with Joy’s parents, begins to slip into the missing girl’s skin. Helen’s self-assuredness is impressive; boldly employing members of the public with no acting backgrounds, the film unfolds in a meditative, slow-cinema fashion that eschews the dramatics one might expect of a missing-person film in favour of thoughtful character study.

Restoration completed by IFI Irish Film Archive in 2023 and DCP available for exhibition.