There’s a wonderful warmth and directness to this movie, adapted by Galway dramatist Christian O’Reilly from his original stage play, and directed by feature first-timer Len Collin.
In the lead roles, non-professionals Charlene Kelly and Kieran Coppinger have a terrific gentleness and honesty. They play Sophie and Larry – one has epilepsy and the other Down’s syndrome. Sophie is cared for in a community facility and Larry is at home with his mum, but they have met in Sophie’s care home and have fallen in love. And care worker Tom (Robert Doherty) has arranged to let them have an afternoon together in a local hotel in town, sneaking them away from a group trip to the cinema. This is against his better judgement, and indeed against the law: Section 5 of Ireland’s Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993, which forbids sexual relations between people with developmental disabilities unless they are married – this law was in fact repealed earlier this year.
It is a misadventure that has elements of comedy and chaos as all the rest of the group wander away from the cinema, but the scenes between Larry and Sophie themselves have a grownup seriousness and the film itself has a tough, unsentimental ending. A valuable film with honesty and heart.
