Customer Reviews

Falling for a Dancer

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This adaptation of the Deirdre Purcell novel runs approximately 200 minutes and is worth every second. In the beginning of the film, Elizabeth Sullivan has her first romance with an actor in a traveling show and finds herself pregnant and the actor long gone. Her parents, wanting to avoid embarrassment, consult their priest for advise and he comes up with a recently widowed older man with young children who needs a wife. Left with few options, Elizabeth, played beautifully by newcomer Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh, marries this stranger and endures a life much harder than the privileged one she left. Her husband, Neeley, treats her like property he's paranoid of losing, but not especially cherished property.

Watching from the hill above is Neeley's cousin, Mossie Sheenan (Liam Cunningham). Neeley inherited his farm from Mossie's father, who died when Mossie was very young and probably before he could change his will to leave the place to his son - a situation that has caused bad blood between them. This has Elizabeth misinterpreting just about everything Mossie does as being motivated by a desire to either cause Neeley trouble or to regain his land.

There isn't much more we can tell without giving away too much, but this movie has everything you can hope for . . .a great story, beautiful scenery, haunting music, and WONDERFUL ACTING.

The film is an investment in time and in the characters here. And what characters - all richly drawn! Elizabeth - strong yet vulnerable and so very unhappy. But determined to make her life work as best she can given the limitations of life for women (not to mention unwed pregnant girls)in 1930's Ireland. Mossie Sheehan, played so heartbreakingly beautifully by Liam Cunningham, will make you want to weep. He falls for Elizabeth immediately, but cannot act on it. Her parents have married her to his estranged cousin Neely (they feud over land) an older widower far from a good and loving husband or father. Her step children - particularly Katie who is doomed to repeat Elizabeth's mistakes - who come to love and respect her as their mother. Elizabeth longs to experience the things all 25 year old women want. Fun, flirting, passion. And she gets it with Daniel McCarthy a boy Katie's age who tragically decides that he is in love with Elizabeth. Mayhem and death ensue. When Mossie finally declares his true feelings to Elizabeth you just want to cry. He's so beautifully sweet! Yes, make the investment. It is a sometimes dark, sometimes unpleasant, but honest look at rural life. But there is a definite pay-off in the end. My only complaint is with the last line in the film. Too corny by half!

This movie drew me in right from the beginning. I was reluctant to even watch it because I was not familiar with any of the cast. I could feel Beth's pain.......pregnant by a womanizing actor, pushed away by her parents whose only concern was what other people think and forced to marry an older man she neither knew or loved. Enduring the drudgery of a loveless marriage and stepchildern who loathed her, feeling like an old woman in a young girl's body. Mossie sheehan who loves her from the moment he sees her, helpless to do anything about it. His is in a continuous fued with her husband who is living in the house and on the land that rightly belongs to Mossie. This movie gives hope that even the darkest circumstances can turn around and it really is possible to find your soul mate and one true love. I watch this movie often. It is one of my favorites right along with Pride and Prejudice. It also made me a die hard fan of Liam Cunningham.

I must warn you that the picture on the video box is very misleading. This is the very young man, 6 years younger than the heroine, who becomes infatuated with her, the woman also shown on the box. This young man, however, is not the hero of this video series. The hero is a man who is in conflict with her brutal drunk of a husband, over a piece of land that should have come to the hero by inheritance, but went to the drunk instead. This man, Mossie, is also very attractive so why his image wasn't used on the video box is unknown. The heroine is forced into marriage with this much-older brute by her family, since she is about to become an unwed mother by a long-gone actor in 1937 Ireland. She lived in the city with her prosperous family but moves to her husband's village, where everyone barely ekes out a living on the rocky land by the sea. She also must raise the many children her husband had with his late wife. Some viewers may be put off by two violent scenes between the drunken husband and wife. The first is a rape scene, which is rough going. In the second, her son is hurt which cuts off the violence between them. If you can handle the rape scene though, the rest of the series is very enjoyable, well done, and happily resolved and should provide a good evening's entertainment. My husband and I both enjoyed it a lot, watching it over two nights.

Unlike most of the other reviewer's, my reasons for watching this movie where not based upon the fact that Colin Farrell is one of the actors. I know that he's a very good actor, but I'm really not a fan. Anyway if you're hoping that he's a main characture, sorry, but his part is one of the smaller roles. I first read about this movie, while I was browsing here, at Amazon.com, having read all of the positive reviews (and a few not so positive reviews), I bought it on DVD, and was not disapointed. In my opinion, this is a wonderful minniseries/movie. The actors and actresses all did beautiful jobs portraying their charactures. However, I must say that the performance of Liam Cunningham as Mossie Sheenan seemed to me, the most poignant. The rest of the cast, Elizabeth Dermot-Walsh (Elizabeth), Dermot Crowley (Neely), Colin Ferrall (Danny) and the rest of the cast were all wonderful. I won't bother writting about the plot of the movie, sesne the other reviewers have done such a great job in doing so. Although I will say that the ending, while bittersweet, is beautiful, and exactly what I wished for it to be. I highly recomend this movie.

Have you ever wondered what life would have been like if a certain event had never occured?

If the bus had never broken down Elizabeth(Beth) would never have met George and her life wouldn't have been changed for the worse. It is the 1930's and Beth is living in Cork with her parents. She is after arriving home from a trip to Dublin with her friend Ida, but she has a deep secret that no one must know - she is pregnant and has only two choices- leave home and move into a home run by the nuns for unwed mothers or to marry. After a horrifying visit to the nun-run home Beth solomly decides to marry. The match is made for her, she is to marry a recently bereaved man named Neeley Scollard. After a quiet ceremony, Beth is brought home- not to Cork but to her new home in Beara, on the west most tip of Dingle where she is met by her new daughters. Beth has a son whom she calls Francey. Straight away it is obvious that Neeley ia strict man- all of his family fear him. Neeley's cousin Mossie (Liam Cunningham) is a decent type of person but Neeley maintains that Mossie is a land-grabber and that he and his family are to have nothing to do with him. After a dance, Neeley losses his temper and hurts Francey. That night, while Beth is in Cork with Francey, there is a death in Beara and the main suspect is a young man called Danny Mc Carthy. Beth can't decide whether she wants to stay in Beara or move back home to Cork with her family. Mossie trys to win her heart but....... You don't think that I'm going to tell you the whole story? If I did, where's the point in watching this story.

The movie is based on the best selling novel by Deirdre Purcell. It manages to pull you into the story and into the lives of each of the characters. I really enjoyed this movie - I have seen it so many times that I almost know it off by heart. I hope that if you chose to watch it, you will enjoy this movie. Go neiri an bothar leat. (good luck- may the road rise with you)

I have watched this movie twice and found it to be one which can make you want to cry and be heartsick for all concerned. The young lady has found herself in a position to where she has to make the best out of what is to say "sad". She loved an actor, got pregnant, married an older man, fell for a younger man, and then the story becomes sadder, then turns out for the best, depending on how you think of the other man. You will become hopeful for the young lady that she finds rebirth in romance with someone who can give her true love. She has a good heart, yet is misled in some ways. It's a true to life situation for the Irish countryside. I enjoyed the movie, yet wanted her to be able to spread her wings and live life with the man she finds to be her love mate. It's a different story and one you will think about. You will be glad you watched the entire story from beginning to end. A 4 star movie

set in the craggy, unforgiving mountains of Ireland, buy this movie. You won't be disappointed. The characters are superbly cast and the dialogue, once you've tuned your ear to the lilting Irish brogue, pulls you deep into the very nuances of each and every character. Some you loathe, some you love. But all of them are unforgettable.

I wish Hollywood well, but gee, it's great to spend a couple of hours without all the eye-strobing special effects and the stomach-turning violence.

This the first time I have ever given a movie 5 stars. This one truly mezmorized me. It is dark and forebodding, yet it has its moments and the ending is somewhat surprising. I had never heard of any of the actors and they all gave compelling performances. The cinematography is excellent, Ireland must be a very beautiful country. This movie really requires you to concentrate, don't watch it if you are doing anything else.

This is a heartbreaking epic tale about the difficult road a young woman must travel when she breaks the rules of social acceptance. It's hard for a modern young woman like myself to fathom that a mere seventy years ago, this was the fate of an unwed mother. Elizabeth's life is turned upside down when she becomes pregnant, and has no idea where the father has gone. Social restrictions leave Elizabeth with two unappealing choices: Admittance into a Magdalene convent or marriage to a farmer twice her age whom she has never met. She chooses the latter and is determined to make the best of it, but the harsh, cold, and desolate landscape of her new home is a metaphor for the fate of her marriage. Her husband Neely, is very possesive and treats her like a piece of property. He is particularly leary of his Cousin/ Neighbor, Mossie, who he calls a "Land Grabber". They have been fueding for years over the ownership of family property which also gives way to Neely's fearful possesiveness over Elizabeth. Elizabeth Dermot Walsh gives a fantastic performance as the fictional Elizabeth, who has been so severely beat down yet stays incredibly strong throughout all the tragic twists and turns of her life. The most impressive scene is towards the end when Elizabeth kneels at the grave of her stepdaughter and blames herself for her death. That point is the culmination of so many emotions. It shows how Elizabeth has given all she can to rectify herself for all the wrong-doing she feels responsibility toward, but at this point feels she has failed. The acting is very powerfull in this scene.

I am giving four stars only because I felt that the ending was a bit abrupt. It is sad right up until the end, then there is an admition of love and bam -- a wedding and happy ending. I feel like if you are going to make a movie four hours long there is no reason for an abrupt ending.

This is a fantastic movie for anyone with an interest in women's studies, social influences, period films, or you just want to see a good old fashioned tale of a person rising above so many adversities. If you like this movie, a good supplement would be "The Magdalene Sisters". It will show you what would have been in store for Elizabeth had she admitted herself into the Magdalene Convent. It is not for the faint of heart though, as it is much more brutal and depressing. It will make you angry, but will give valuable insight into the bleak choices that faced Elizabeth in Falling for a Dancer.