Falling for a Dancer Reviews
Falling for a Dancer
Ireland 1937.
Adapted for television by the novelist herself, Deirdre Purcell’s Falling for a Dancer is the compelling story of young, well-to-do Elizabeth Sullivan (Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh – From Time to Time), who becomes pregnant after a fling with an actor and loses her carefree life forever. In shame, her parents banish her to the remote Beara Peninsula to marry an older, widowed farmer (Dermot Crowley – Babel) with four children of his own.
Youthful dreams of happiness fade away as Elizabeth learns to cope with motherhood and a loveless marriage. Then, at a village dance, in the only escape she has from her harsh existence, a momentary flirtation with Danny (Colin Farrell – Crazy Heart, Miami Vice) ignites a chain of tra
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The all-time favorite movie of a lifelong movieholic!,
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.
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|Heartbreaking, fulfilling and beautiful!,
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!
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|falling for a movie,
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.
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