The Eclipse (2009)

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Produced by Treasure Entertainment for RTE, The Eclipse is based on a supernatural love story by author Billy Roche and was co-adapted by Conor McPherson (The Seafarer. Starring Aidan Quinn, Ciarán Hinds and Iben Hjejle, it tells the story of widower Michael (Hinds), who, in an effort to find solace over the death of his wife, befriends Lena Morelle (Hjejle), a writer who specialises in the supernatural, during a literary festival in Wexford. Events spiral towards the paranormal when Michael finds himself confronted by strange visions, as well as having to contend with a flesh-and-blood menace in the form of author Nicholas Holden (Quinn), who is determined to prevent Michael and Lena from becoming too close.

The supporting cast includes Jim Norton, a Tony Award winner this year for his performance in the Broadway production of McPherson's The Seafarer , as the teacher's father-in- law, with Roche playing the chairman of the literary festival committee.

The Eclipse marks the first cinematic collaboration between two of Ireland's leading writers Billy Roche (The Wexford Trilogy, Cavalcaders, Trojan Eddie) and Conor McPherson (The Weir, Dublin Carol, The Seafarer, I Went Down, Saltwater, The Actors) who co-wrote the screenplay which is based on a short story from Billy Roche's recently published collection Tales From Rainwater Pond. The film will be Conor McPherson's fourth as a director after Saltwater, Endgame and The Actors. (from the Bulletin for Actors and Actresses)

The Eclipse is due for will be shown on RTE Television in 2010.

I got to play a real out and out narcissistic American a**hole, which was great. It's a scenery-chewing role and I come to Ireland for a small town literary festival. I'm a very famous, pompous writer who's trying to shag everything that moves. Full of my own intellectual brilliance and constantly complaining that nothing works right, you know? (Aidan Quinn about his part)

About Ciarán

The intensity of his presence is amazing. But Ciarán himself is not really like that. He's actually quite warm, very gentlemanly, a very sweet, kind of lovable person. In the film, even though he's going through a very dark time, that warmth comes out. Like a lot of great actors, he's doing a performance but he's also just himself, and he's keeping it really simple. (Conor McPherson)

A Review from The Irish Times, Friday, September 26, 2008, by Michael Dwyer

McPherson, Quinn and Hinds in Cork for drama

In a rare and intriguing-sounding collaboration between two established Irish playwrights, Conor McPherson is directing a movie based on a short story by Billy Roche. Both writers collaborated on the screenplay for The Eclipse, which is now shooting in Cobh, Co Cork. Described as "a supernatural love story", it stars Aidan Quinn, Ciarán Hinds and Danish actress Iben Hjejle.

Hinds plays a woodwork teacher mourning the death of his wife and experiencing ghostly visitations. Helping out at the annual literary festival in his hometown, he finds himself drawn to a visiting author (Hjejle) whose books deal with the supernatural. He also finds himself competing with a high-profile writer (Quinn) for her attention.

The supporting cast includes Jim Norton, a Tony Award winner this year for his performance in the Broadway production of McPherson's The Seafarer, as the teacher's father-in-law, with Roche playing the chairman of the literary festival committee. The crew includes cinematographer Ivan McCullough, production designer Mark Geraghty and Oscar- nominated and Emmy- winning costume designer Consolata Boyle.

The Eclipse reunites McPherson with producer Rob Walpole of Treasure Entertainment, the Dublin-based production company behind I Went Down, which McPherson scripted, and Saltwater, which he wrote and directed.

From iFmagazine.com, March 5, 2010, by Abbie Bernstein

THE ECLIPSE works wondrously well as both a straight drama and a very frightening ghost story. The horror is heightened by the utter naturalness of the normalcy surrounding it and by the characters' wholly understandable reactions.

Michael Farr (Ciarán Hinds) is a widowed schoolteacher living with his two children in a small seaside Irish town. Michael is trying to be a good dad and is coping with his ailing father-in-law (Jim Norton), who lives at a nearby nursing home. Michael is starting to see very disturbing apparitions. However, Michael doesn't know anybody he can talk to about this sort of thing - certainly not his kids, who haven't noticed anything odd and are dealing with their own growing pains. When Michael volunteers as to be a driver for the guests at the annual local literary festival, he encounters horror writer Lena Morrelle (Iben Hjejle), who is pretty, friendly and potentially someone who may give credence to what Michael is experiencing. Lena is being pursued by her married lover Nicholas Holden (Aidan Quinn), a best-selling novelist who is also a guest at the festival and is quick to judge Michael's interest in Lena as inappropriate.

The integration of the natural and supernatural in THE ECLIPSE is so seamless that it's all the more surprising to know that its source material, Billy Roche's short story Table Manners, has nothing to do with ghosts. Director Conor McPherson and Roche have ultimately crafted a lovely, fine-tuned script that allows us to see and feel Michael's grief without us or the film ever becoming bogged down in it. The interactions between Michael and Lena are thoughtful and lifelike, while Quinn's Holden is a good mixture of public noblesse oblige and private borderline hysteria.

Hinds, who gets cast as a lot of formidable fellows in high-profile films, here is entirely down to earth as the good-hearted Michael. He's big enough and mature enough not to be the typical protagonist of a ghost story, so when Michael at first tries to figure out what's going on, our inclination is not to think, "Don't look in there," but rather to empathize with an adult performing a reasonable task.

McPherson's timing of the scares is perfect. They are potent enough not to even incite nervous laughter afterwards; there is a sense of respect for fearful mysteries in the film. Humor is reserved for moments when characters feel safe enough (and far enough from horror) to lighten up a bit.

Hjejle is a grounded, warm presence and Quinn is persuasive as a man coming a little unglued in a hollow life. Norton is convincingly resigned as Michael's unhappy in-law.

THE ECLIPSE is a rarity - a horror movie that works beautifully as straight drama and yet occasionally scares the hell out of the audience. It is a small gem.

International acclaim

"A haunting romance. Finds plenty of heartfelt gravity in its tale of love lost and found on a gothic coast... agreeably melancholy, spooky and romantic" LOS ANGELES TIMES

"Shines with sterling cast... lovely" THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

"An awards-calibre performance" NEW YORK MAGAZINE

"...by turns spooky, romantic, funny and sad... McPherson masterfully calibrates some pretty wild tonal shifts in this beautifully realized film, which resembles a New Yorker short story in its quiet, closely observed sense of detail. Like a little getaway in its own right, taking viewers to new worlds both natural and supernatural." WASHINGTON POST

"Charming. The wonderful Ciarán Hinds has rarely been better." BOX OFFICE

"The simultaneous revelation of a place and a man, with their shared history, and it plays by virtue of Hinds, his face a hewn and weathered monument to regret" LA WEEKLY

"A quietly haunting experience... most satisfying" FILMCRITIC.COM

"A fascinating romantic triangle... lovely, wise, occasionally creepy and surprisingly moving" SALON

"A rarity. Works wondrously well" IF MAGAZINE

From Yale Daily News, April 23, 2010

But if McPherson's vision is lacking, Mr. Hinds' performance certainly isn't. His gaze is full of bottomless anguish, and in the spaces between his lines, you can feel the cold, gaping absence that has engulfed his life. Although the supporting cast is adequate, they seem to melt away when in proximity to Hinds' sorrow. His performance is complemented by the work of cinematographer Ivan McCullough, who conjures the beauty of the Irish countryside with a muted palette of soft blues, greens, and browns. McCullough's sharp eye turns the copious darkness and shadow that abound throughout the film into an oppressive presence rather than simply empty space.

It's a shame that The Eclipse will most likely make only modest profits at the box office; true, it oscillates awkwardly between being too loud and too quiet, and the plot could have been shaved down considerably, but all of that is subsumed by Hinds' power as a performer. There's simply too much here, but the sensitivity of Hinds' artistry almost makes us forgive McPherson for his excesses.

From hollywoodchicago.com

It's ultimately the human relationships that make this film such a rewarding experience. Hinds is touchingly restrained, and once again succeeds in making acting look as natural as breathing.

Character: Michael Farr
Co-stars: Aidan Quinn, Iben Hjejle, Eanna Hardwick, Jim Norton
Director: Conor McPherson
Screenplay: Conor McPherson
Run-time: 88 mn
Release date: 26 March 2010