The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Directed by Martin McDonagh
“Some things there’s no moving on from. And I think it’s a good thing.”
The Banshees of Inisherin takes place on a sleepy fictional island off the coast of mainland Ireland about a month before the end of the Irish Civil War in May 1923. Colm (Brendan Gleeson), an introspective man with a penchant for classical music and composing, ends his years-long friendship with Pádraic (Colin Ferrel), a nice animal-loving fellow. When confronted, Colm posits that he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his short life with his dull friend, listening to his inane blathering. Rather he wants to compose music and generally be left in peace. To that end, he stipulates an ultimatum: Should Pádraic ever talk to Colm again, he will cut the fingers off his fiddling hand one by one. Therefore hurting his chances to play the music, he composes. It is, however, put into question, whether Colm is as intellectually superior, when Pádraic’s sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon), easily the smartest person on the island, points out some inconsistencies in his intellectual grandstanding as well as reminds him that, for her, everyone is dull on Inisherin. Pádraic, however, spurned on by his friend Dominic (Barry Keoghan), can’t stop pursuing Colm, as everything spirals out of control.
The movie was filmed on the Aran islands off the coast of Galway as well as Achill island, lending the landscape of Inisherin a quilt-like quality of everything Ireland has to offer, from farmland divided by ancient stone fences to sheer cliffs shrouded in mist to hills and mountains. The production design (Mark Tildesley) makes full use of the landscapes, setting its locations so strategically that it feels like the characters are navigating a maze, never knowing where they’ll end up eventually, invoking a timeless mythological feel. As all of the houses are located on different islands, every home tells a different story and every visit offers a unique visual and textural experience. The color palette is eclectic. Indigos, bloody reds and vibrant yellows, featured mainly in the costume designs (Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh), provide a necessary pop of color to the more expected browns and grays typical for period dramas, with the scarfs and amazing knitwear harkening back to the quintessential irishness of the story and characters.
The characters and the way their dialogue is written feels natural and their stories, while personal and unique, also mirror the classic Irish tale of conflict and isolation with the backdrop of the civil war. Both sides of the conflict in the movie as well as the war, presented a united front, once. They were friends and allies, before, seemingly out of the blue, brothers in arms turned to enemies in a spiraling conflict that led to bloodshed and death. However, the movie is not interested in straight allegories, likening every character to either side of the war, rather it invokes the feeling of utter surprise, betrayal and subsequent resentment, when a friend turns from you for seemingly minor reasons as well as showing how a deep schism like than cannot be easily overcome.
Colm is a renowned fiddle player and composer, having many people come to him from the mainland for lessons. His home is filled with knick-knacks from foreign countries, presumably sent to him by his former students or admirers. Despite his apparent worldliness, however, he never left Inisherin and now regrets having spent a lifetime on a dull island with a dull man. He breaks with Pádraic in a peculiar nebulous pursuit for “something greater” - in his case, music and the kind of immortality that comes with being remembered; a pursuit, for which he is willing to maim himself and endure the disaster that comes with his actions.Throughout the movie he is resolved, but conflicted every time he sees Pádraic, trying to outhink his emotions towards his friend’s suffering. Despite Colm being true to his word, however, Pádraic can’t stop bothering him, either, first out of concern then loneliness, and finally anger and retribution. Letting his emotions get the better of him in a bitter spiral. In the end, both men are locked in an inescapable conflict - deeply depressed choosing destruction as the way out - be it internal or external. Destruction that eventually leads to both being alone, having lost everything but each other in the conflict.
It is of note that the action takes place at the end of the war. The small rural community is shielded from outside news and from engaging with the civil war, but the atmosphere of tiredness and inescapable stillness pervades the island and its misty cliffs. The motives of the main characters and also of everyone on the island are blurry, undefined, as though no-one has the energy to go on - the only things remaining being bitterness and obstinate stubbornness, with no chance of reconciliation.
The only way to escape this purgatory, is to tear yourself from this place and leave, regardless of the pain. Siobhán as well as Dominic, the son of the local police chief, do escape in the only ways possible. Siobhán loves her brother dearly and takes care of him, but is also acutely lonely and feels her life draining with every escalating step of Pádraic’s and Colm’s conflict. Eventually, she leaves for the mainland never to return, painfully separating herself from her brother and her birthplace. Where Siobhán sees too much, Dominic chooses to see nothing, actively ignoring or ridiculing his own abuse at the hand of his father and the rejection of the community - instead retaining a shaky sliver of innocence. It is the conclusion to his story that ends the conflict and plunges everything into unbearable silence.
Martin McDonagh wrote a quintessential Irish story. A story about soured friendships, inescapable nearness and escape as the only way out, however it may look. When all is said and done, what remains is the people you’re stuck with for the rest of your life, the misty cliffs and the banshees wailing over Inisherin.