The inimitable Stephen Rea offers one of his finest screen performances in Polish filmmaker Urszula Antoniak’s meditative two-hander, set amidst the wilds of Connemara. An enigmatic young Dutchwoman (Lotte Verbeek), lost in grief, abandons her worldly possessions to live rough in the West of Ireland. Her travels lead to the home of a solitary widower (Rea) who offers her safe haven: she accepts, on the understanding that any type of meaningful relationship is strictly off-limits. Antoniak wisely lets the audience fill in the blanks, conjuring a slow-burning, sensual mood piece, by turns tentative and affecting, adeptly telegraphed by Rea and Verbeek – the latter was snapped up by Rea cohort Neil Jordan for his TV smash The Borgias. Ireland has rarely looked more stunning onscreen.

Notes by Derek O’Connor