It is often said that making people laugh is more difficult than making people cry, but it is not always that true or emphatic. Honest tears, those that fall without realizing it, feeling pain and true compassion. for what is being projected, without artificial deception through music or a Manichaean script and mashing, they are not so common. ‘The quiet girl’ is one of those few examples in which a final shot manages to put the previous 90 minutes in a different light, reconsidering its own history and getting you to take pity on some broken characters whose path together is destined to be cut short.
The girl, who doesn’t speak
The first minutes of ‘The quiet girl’ can easily be confused with excessively slow cinema bordering on misery porn, but there is no other way to present Cáit’s anguish, the inner hell of those who feel that they are only a secondary character in their own lifewho does not know how to play with the few cards that have been given to him, who feels but does not suffer. Or perhaps he suffers, but is unable to feel.
What happens when you give a girl who has never known parental love a glimpse of what her life could be? What if that life had an expiration date? Like Kore-Eda with her great films about found family (the latest, ‘Broker’), ‘The quiet girl’ reflects on what makes someone family, beyond consanguinity. It’s a cookie left on the table, a race to the mailbox, a chance to be freea beautiful moment, however small, in which you can aim for happiness.
But what could be a movie with good intentions but something empty in the background It is gaining layers and depth with a revelation that will completely change what we knew about that temporarily adoptive family, and that recontextualizes everything we have seen up to that moment: that sullen man incapable of having a loving gesture, that always happily bitter woman, the inconsistent haze of a truncated second chance.
To flower of skin
This is not one of those movies where the protagonist opens a door and suddenly finds herself in a magical world of joy: the landscape never ceases to be the Ireland of the early 80s, as majestic as it is oppressive, as untamed as small. What changes is the vital attitude, the discovery of a life that she had been denied: for Cáit, the wonderful world of Oz has nothing to do with magic. Just by feeling, if not appreciated, at least seen.
The girl protagonist of ‘The quiet girl’ does not want to stand out for her talents, or fulfill her dream, or try to fight for her beliefs. His wish is much more basic, natural and understandable: for someone to acknowledge his existence.. Feeling valid, unique and appreciated. How are you going to speak or show your feelings if nobody cares about anything you have to say? It is fascinating to see during the hour and a half of footage how the character fixes a small part of what is brokenbut as spectators we are aware that he will never be able to heal from all the trauma.
And, in the end, it culminates in what, by far, is the best scene of 2023: a real nonsense race, purely emotional, in which it is inevitable to think again about your life from that moment on, about what has evolved, the possibilities of an alternative life, the happiness cherished and never achieved, the embrace that seals an uncertain destiny. There may be viewers who abandon the film (especially when it is available on streaming) after a few minutes of preparation as tedious as necessary, but they will be making one of the biggest mistakes this year. The emotional blow is not easily forgotten.
A movie that doesn’t shut up
The Oscar nomination for best foreign film (where it has virtually zero chance of winning) has meant that the film, fortunately, cannot be described as “the best kept secret of Irish cinema”: hopefully a good number of people who would never come close to a story shot in Gaelic they will understand this girl in her process to stop being a mere shadow.
Catherine Clinch, at 13, is already a talent to watch closely: her interpretation of Cáit is one of the most honest, honest and unique works of recent times, and makes it impossible not to be moved by each small step forward of his character. Of course, nothing would be his fabulous role without a script that refuses to be the story you expect and gives a couple of unique and almost challenging emotional swerves, ready to leave the heart crushed into a thousand pieces.
‘The quiet girl’ may not have the rhythm that current cinema is accustomed to: it is not vibrant, nor does its editing make each scene hold continuous attention. He asks a lot of the viewer, but then rewards him even more. If you are able to follow a slow narrative, which lives in the small details and in an evolution at the pace of ant, The film, as full of beauty as it is of organically tear-jerking scenes, will pay you back in spades.