Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Withdrawal

    • Director

      Joe Comerford

    • Credits

      Producer: Joe Comerford
      Writer: David Chapman

    • Principal Cast

      Mark Quinn, Marion O'Loughlin, Gerry Mc Sorley, Liam Sweeney.

  • Category

    Short
    Experimental

Based on the writings of David Chapman and Jimmy Brennan, Withdrawal is about Jimmy, a heroin user in a Dublin psychiatric hospital. His thoughts and observations dominate, his subjective voice-over speculating on the lives of his companions. Jimmy leaves the hospital, returning to the city to reconcile with his loved ones, but his withdrawal leads ultimately to a dead end.

Reminiscent of American and European anti-narrative cinema, Withdrawal mixes drama, documentary, dance, music, unconventional shooting and editing techniques, to underscore the inevitability of Jimmy’s backward journey.

Regarding the insertion of a scene from the 1935 film version of the War of Independence  story, Guests of the Nation, Comerford explains: “It indicates my questioning of the foundation of the Irish state – what we aspired to become against what we actually became.”

Notes by Eugene Finn

26 minutes, Ireland, 1973

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