Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Circle of Friends

    • Director

      Pat O'Connor

    • Credits

      Producers: Alex Winitsky, Arlene Sellers, Frank Price. Writers: Maeve Binchy, Andrew Davies

    • Principal Cast

      Minnie Driver, Chris O'Connell, Saffron Burrows, Geraldine O'Rawe, Colin Firth, Aidan Gillen

  • Category

    Feature
    Literature

Set in an austere 1950s Ireland, Circle of Friends is the empowering story of three young women fighting to have decent lives in a difficult country. Childhood friends Bernadette (Minnie Driver), Nan (Saffron Burrows), and Eve (Geraldine O’Rawe), escape the stifling atmosphere of their country town when Eve’s benefactors pay for her to attend college in Dublin. Escaping the prospect of small town boredom and arranged marriages at home, Dublin offers the girls a chance to lead their own lives; Bernadette meets the impressive Jack Foley (Chris O’Donnell), whilst exciting but unpredictable men such as Simon (Colin Firth) and Aidan (Aidan Gillen) also enter their lives. Entangled in romantic nets whilst also grappling with church dogma, the girls battle for control of their lives in this internationally-successful adaptation of Maeve Binchy’s novel, directed by Pat O’Connor.

103 minutes, Ireland/USA/UK, 1995, Colour

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