Loved this movie! This adaptation of the Deirdre Purcell novel runs approximately 190 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. Liam Cunningham gives a powerful performance as the brooding Mossie Sheehan. As a man of few words in most of the movie, he had to tell the viewer most of what his character is feeling through his eyes, facial expressions, and body language, and actors who can handle such a task this well are rare and deserving of praise.
