Original subtitles

[ARROWS WHOOSHING]

[WATER LAPPING]

[WATER LAPPING CONTINUES]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]

[NICHOLAS, VO]: All painting, my father said

is a process of seeing.

"At first, there is only light and chaos, Nicholas.

"Colours.

"Shapes.

"Slowly, an emergence.

"And at last...

"you see."

You never met him, my father.

The closest he got to your island

a painting he made

looking toward it.

But because of him...

and because of that painting

I found you

and the meaning of my life.

For the first 17 years of my life

my father was a civil servant.

Until, one empty afternoon

God spoke to him for the first time.

[CLOCK TICKS]

[GENTLE MUSIC]

He told my father to be a painter

and said not one word more.

[CHAIR SCRAPES]

Mr Coughlan?

- Mr Coughlan! - [PHONE RINGS]

[IMPASSIONED VOCALISATION]

[LAUGHTER AND INDISTINCT CHATTER IN IRISH]

[NICHOLAS, VO]: Just as God entered our life

on a western island on the far side of the country

he left yours.

I imagined that island before I saw it.

You, the poet's daughter

and your brother

on the last day of childhood...

[IN IRISH]:

Go! [SHE LAUGHS]

Oi, oi, oi, oi!

[IN IRISH]:

[HE PLAYS A TRADITIONAL TUNE]

[WIND GUSTS HEAVILY]

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

[SHARP NOTE, MUSIC STOPS]

- [SEAN GRUNTS] - Seanie?

- [HE GRUNTS] - Seanie...

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Dad?

[APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS]

[GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING ON RADIO]

[BETTE]: What's happened?

What's wrong? Nothing.

Nothing at all is wrong.

Then why are you home?

- The dinner's not even ready... - Bette. Bette, come sit down.

Come sit down now, please.

I'm not going back to the office.

I'm finished working there.

- What? - I'm going to paint.

You're not serious.

I'm going to sell paintings.

I don't believe you.

William?

- William? - [FOOTSTEPS SCUFFLE]

[RADIO CLICKS OFF]

Don't I have some sort of say in this?

People don't just come home from work one day

and say they're not going to go back.

You can't, you can't say that and mean it.

I do mean it.

All this time, I've been living the wrong life.

But now, I have a chance.

I don't know what you're saying.

Am I wrong? No...

Is Nicholas wrong?

No.

You're the only parts I got right.

Oh, William...

you're frightening me.

[SHE BREATHES SHAKILY]

I can't... I can't hear this.

- I'm making the tea... - Bette.

Bette, come here.

Come here, Bette.

Come here.

I have to.

I have to paint. Do you understand?

It's what I'm supposed to do.

[NICHOLAS, VO]: Why...

I did not ask.

For I was a son who could not speak to his father.

There was love

but no language between us.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[WAVES LAPPING]

[IN IRISH]:

[MARGARET]: It feels like we're banishing her.

We...

we could get her to stay for a year.

I could just... I-I-I could say that...

we... we need her at home.

Mm-hm?

[SHE SIGHS] Doesn't feel right, either.

It's only that once she's gone away to school

she'll never be the same.

None of them ever are.

They leave their childhood here

come back only to visit it.

So...

we will keep her, then.

For... for a year.

Hm?

We can't do that.

It's her life.

She's to go then.

[FIRE CRACKLING]

Oh, and you're not to give her the talk.

What talk?

That schoolmaster talk you give every child leaving the island.

"Show them how special you are. Show them what an islander is."

You're not to go soppy on her, either.

Be hard enough for her to leave Seanie.

There's... there's fresh scones.

Don't let your father eat them all.

[LAUGHS]

[GENTLE MUSIC]

[SHIP'S HORN BLASTS]

Um...

The ferry won't wait.

[GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES]

[IN IRISH]:

You're an island girl.

You're not the same as them.

There'll be girls from... from the city there

but you'll show them.

[IN IRISH]:

I haven't been able to write any poetry since...

Over here.

Make sure that you write to your mother.

You know how she is.

[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]

[MOTHER SUPERIOR]: Mother Superior is my name, girls.

This is Sister Agnes.

If you follow her, she will show you where to go.

This way, girls.

And, uh, this...

this is my daughter, Isabel.

Very good.

[MELANCHOLY MUSIC]

[NICHOLAS, VO]: God wanted my father to paint.

But not, it seemed, the small, neat pictures

he had done before.

These were to be his life's work.

Nothing less than sublime expressions of supreme love.

But in a suburban house in Dublin

no such expressions were conceivable.

And one morning, he left us for the mythical west.

There, the paintings would come.

For three months, my mother and I lived

in the shadow of my father's absence

and discovered...

there was no God.

For piece by piece, our lives fell apart.

And so, it seemed, did my mother's mind.

♪ ...one as the sea and the sky ♪

You like him, though, Daddy, don't you?

He wrote me a love letter.

"You must know that I cannot imagine my life without you.

"I see you standing under the street light

"and it seems as if I can hardly breathe.

"Everything of this world

"that is beautiful to me is bound up in you."

[NICHOLAS, VO]: We were lost.

Both of us locked in the prison of a single question.

What if he did not return?

[AGNES CHATTERS INDISTINCTLY]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[CROW CAWS]

- Y'alright there? - [MUSIC PLAYS ON CAR RADIO]

Yeah.

D'you need a hand?

No.

Alright.

- [GATE CLANKS] - Ow!

Well, are you gonna help me or not?

Put your hand on my shoulder, yeah.

Both of them.

Legs go first. Yeah.

- [SHE SIGHS] - Alright.

[MUSIC CONTINUES ON CAR RADIO]

You sure you don't need a lift?

It's freezing.

I don't mind taking you anywhere you want to go.

Anywhere?

♪ Come home, Lady Luck

♪ I need redemption

♪ I'm so broke

♪ Can't even pay attention

♪ No

♪ Come on home

[MUSIC CONTINUES ON CAR RADIO]

- [RADIO STOPS] - [HE HUMS]

Come on, lads.

Come on, boys. Come on.

Come on. Come on!

Come on... [HE COOS]

God help me, boys.

Hello! Hello.

Sorry. They're not, uh...

Oh, no, they're beautiful.

You'd know.

[LAUGHS]

[HE HUMS]

You will kneel here until these candles burn out.

Until you consider the consequences of your actions

and feel a full contrition.

[RECEDING FOOTSTEPS]

- [FRONT DOOR SHUTS] - [TEA POURS]

[FAINT MUMBLING]

Oh...

Hello, Nicholas.

- How are you? - Fine.

Of course you are.

Oh.

Aye. They're not finished.

What was it like? The west?

Oh...

You'll see it someday.

Where's your mother?

She stays in her room now.

But I could go and get her.

No, wait.

She'll want to know you're home.

- Aye. - See the paintings. Maybe.

Aye. There you go.

Go get us a cake.

Hm?

[NICHOLAS, VO]: While he was gone, I hated my father.

The moment he returned

I forgave him.

Now we would be released back into normal life.

[DISTANT WAIL]

Oh...

[SOLEMN MUSIC]

[WILLIAM SOBS]

Oh, my love...

Oh, please...

Forgive me...

Oh...

[NICHOLAS, VO]: It was the end.

I prayed to my mother.

Help us.

[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]

I wash, you dry.

I have something for you.

I got this in Galway once.

I was reading it and I thought

this is for Nicholas.

I...

I can't explain why.

I'm not much of a poet.

See what you think.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

Seven days.

What?

I'll go to the west and paint for seven days.

- Can I come with you? - No.

You need to stay in school. Pass the exams.

I...

I can't afford nice places, Nicholas.

I sleep out. It's damp and it's cold.

- Just one week. - Why?

I can't explain to you why. I...

can't explain to anybody why.

But I know it's something I have to do.

Why can't you be like everyone else?

I have to try again, Nicholas. I have to go.

I have to be in life. I have to...

I have to make life.

It's about beauty

and... and mystery, and your spirit.

And something in you which can't be denied.

And which I have, up to now, failed.

I have completely and utterly failed.

[GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES]

[WAVES LAPPING]

[ACCORDION PLAYS]

[IN IRISH]:

[SOLEMN MUSIC]

You!

I'm talking to You.

The almighty You.

Why not me?

Why didn't You pick on me?

Pick me! Cure him!

Come on, You bastard.

Show Your face!

- [THUNDER RUMBLES] - [DOG BARKS IN DISTANCE]

Oh, why don't You strike me? I'm ready for You!

Hey.

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Come on home.

Yes?

Don't You dare strike him.

[AGNES]: You have to come with me now, dear.

It's Uncle Johnny, Isabel.

Our prayers go with you, child.

We are deeply sorry for your loss.

He was elderly?

He was, Mother.

He put up a brave fight.

If we had more notice

Sister Agnes or myself would have accompanied you.

But your cousin...

Peader, Mother.

Peader says that the funeral is to be at noon.

I'm to take you, Issy

if the sisters will allow.

I'll have her back by evening, Mother.

Thank you for your understanding, Mother.

Thank you, Agnes.

[DOOR OPENS]

[DOOR CREAKS AND SLAMS SHUTS]

Wait. Wait.

[ENGINE STARTS]

A bit of respect for the dead, you know.

- [HE CHUCKLES] - [TYRES SQUEAL]

[THEY SNIGGER]

[IRISH MUSIC PLAYING]

- To Uncle Johnny. - To Uncle Johnny.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]

I was his favourite, you know.

Oh. Oh, you were, were ya?

- Yeah, yeah. - Yeah.

- Yeah, he loved me. - He loved you?

What did he love about you?

[ROCK 'N' ROLL PLAYS ON JUKEBOX]

My dancing.

[HE CHUCKLES]

♪ But our love is gonna grow-oh-oh ♪

♪ Higher than the mountain, grow-oh-oh ♪

♪ Wider than the ocean, grow-oh-oh ♪

♪ Deeper than the deepest sea

♪ [Deepest sea, deepest sea]

♪ Come here

♪ Let me tell you something in your ear ♪

♪ It'll make you feel good

♪ At least I think it should

♪ It's our love is gonna grow-oh-oh ♪

♪ Higher than the mountain, grow-oh-oh ♪

♪ Wider than the ocean, grow-oh-oh ♪

♪ Deeper than the deepest sea

♪ [Deepest sea, deepest sea]

♪ We'll always be united

♪ No matter how far we're apart... ♪

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[TYRES SQUEAL]

It could take two days for the funeral.

You know...

Uncle Johnny'd merit that.

I am going to take two days.

Only I'm going home.

Let me bring you to the ferry.

When will I see you again?

I'll kill all your cousins!

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[DRIVER]: Last off. Last off.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[NICHOLAS, VO]: In a different love story

we meet here, and the moment matters.

I saw you

but did not see you that day.

[WATER LAPPING]

[WAVES LAPPING]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Dad.

Dad!

[HE GASPS]

Dad!

Dad!

Dad!

[WATER ROARS]

Dad!

Dad!

[MUFFLED SOUND]

Dad!

[MUFFLED SOUND]

There now.

There now. Alright?

Breathe now.

Breathe. There you go.

[HE CHUCKLES]

Well, Nicholas.

It seems God isn't finished with either of us, huh?

It's all good.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

[SHIP'S HORN BLASTS]

[ISABEL]: That's it...

Hiya, Chris!

[IN IRISH]:

Oh, yeah! Only for a day or so.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

- Get on, Zeus, go on home. - [DOG BARKS]

[MARGARET]: "He'd often thought it strange

that Vincent Heron had a bird's face

as well as a bird's name.

A shock of..." [SHE GASPS]

You're back!

But...

What, are you not happy to see me?

Zeus is very happy to see me.

And Seanie is very happy to see me too, aren't you?

[IN IRISH]:

Why are you home, Isabel?

What? It's a break! Two days.

Oh! Alright. It was lovely to see you too, Margaret.

Me and Seanie will be off now for a walk.

No more muffins here, huh?

[MARGARET]: What do you think, Zeus?

And then he gave me a lift in his red car.

I don't know...

Do you think I'll marry him one day?

And then we'll have, like, a little girl

running around the place

or a little boy.

And then he'd be a big mammy's boy like yourself.

So if you look very carefully out at that island

that is the island of the sleeping giant.

Ye can go home.

[CHILDREN GIGGLE AND CHATTER]

There you are.

[MUIRIS]: Oh...

Ah...

I told them that you were unwell and I had to come home

which is not exactly what I told Mammy.

Well, I wasn't feeling great in myself

- but I feel a lot better now. - [THEY CHUCKLE]

[WIND GUSTS]

She's... she's home.

Be happy.

But why would they let her home for two days?

Maybe they were disinfecting the place or something.

It doesn't matter.

She's home, that's all.

There's more to it.

Do you hear me?

Muiris?

Well, sorry...

Sorry, darling. I must have fallen asleep.

What is it, darling?

Nothing.

- Nothing? - No. Doesn't matter.

Right.

Good night, so.

I don't know, I feel...

I feel something's happening.

Well, that would be...

probable.

You're useless.

You're a completely useless man.

- You know that? - I do.

Listen to me.

Lord, how you worry.

You worry when she's here.

You worry when she's not here.

That's what you do.

That's how you love her.

I should know some songs to sing, Nicholas.

Do you know any songs?

I know some Latin.

Say it.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

Aurea prima sata est aetas

qua vindice nullo sponte sua

sine lege fidem rectumque colebat.

Poena metusque aberant

nec verba minantia fixo aere legebantur

nec supplex turba timebat iudicis ora sui

sed erant sine vindici...

tuti.

Beautiful.

[IN IRISH]:

[HE REPEATS]

I have it.

You're going to be late.

- Shh, shh! - What're you doing?

[MARGARET]: Oh, God preserve...

It wrote itself!

It did. It wrote itself.

[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]

[NICHOLAS, VO]: When he painted, my father

was as purely himself as he ever was.

And I as close to him as I would be.

To these days, I am to return

again and again throughout my life.

For in them is the imminence of love

and my first understanding that I want to be a writer.

Me in the dunes, reading poems of fated love

and the magic of language

while my father painted your island

as if following instruction.

[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING CONTINUES]

Right. Let's go.

[NICHOLAS, VO]: You carry this one, my father said.

Leaving, I knew I carried more than just the painting.

[CHICKENS CLUCK]

Here we go now.

Ah...

Ah...

It's a great comfort having you here, Nicholas.

I'm glad you came.

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

- [KETTLE WHISTLES] - [FAINT POP MUSIC ON RADIO]

What is it?

Dad?

Jesus, shite!

[THUNDER CRACKS]

[COWS MOO]

[COWS BELLOW]

[SOLEMN MUSIC]

[COWS MOO]

[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]

In this world, there's no such thing as chance, Nicholas.

This is how it was meant to be.

[SOLEMN MUSIC CONTINUES]

[CHURCH BELL RINGS]

It turns out that you have no Uncle Johnny.

It turns out...

that you are a sinful girl

who has brought shame on her family

and on your school.

[LOCK CLICKS]

[GENTLE MUSIC]

[NICHOLAS, VO]: It felt like falling from the edge of a cliff

and you were plunged into the first moments

of your own story.

[BIRD SINGS]

My father did not paint again.

His last painting, the one I had carried

he had wrapped in brown paper.

And then he waited.

[KNOCK ON DOOR]

I worked with your father in the civil service.

Is he, er...

Is it a bad time? I can call back.

- I'll call back. - No, no, it's...

You're just the first person who's ever called to see him.

He's through here.

Dad?

Dad.

Hello, William. John.

I meant to call sooner.

- [NICHOLAS]: I'll make some tea. - No, no, thank you, but...

Yes, well...

Actually, I'm here to buy a painting.

Aye.

- I'm sorry. - It's for a prize.

There's no painting for sale.

But here you go.

You can have this one for free.

Please take the money.

It's free...

but it's not for sale.

Please.

Go on now.

[NICHOLAS, VO]: And just like that

he gave away the painting

to become a prize in a poetry competition.

Peader?

- [DOOR SHUTS] - [BELL JINGLES]

Peader?

[WOMAN]: Who's out there?

Sorry. I was just looking for Peader.

He's not here.

Do you know if he'll be back soon?

Are you in trouble?

No.

Cos I wouldn't put it past him.

He's up in the pub.

Sick over some...

bitch.

Thanks.

[POP MUSIC PLAYS ON JUKEBOX]

Erm...

Erm... I've been expelled.

Just wanted to tell you.

Isabel, wait.

I've got a whole shop waiting for you.

[NICHOLAS]: My mind inclines me to speak of forms

changed into new bodies.

Before the sea and...

the earth...

and the heaven which covers all things...

[GENTLE MUSIC]

there was an appearance in the whole orb of nature

which they called Chaos.

Nicholas, I do appreciate your linguistic brilliance

but I will need to see your translation in written form

in order to correct it.

[DISTANT VOICE]

Nicholas!

[FIRE CRACKLES]

You can't go in there!

- [CROWD MUTTERS] - [OFFICER]: Come on now.

[HE SCREAMS]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[NICHOLAS, VO]: The second time God spoke to my father

it was with fire.

[FIRE ROARS]

He swept into our house with tongues of flame.

And told him that his life's work was done.

He took my father in His arms

and bore him away through the air.

Or... none of this was true.

An electrical fire had started in the kitchen

and smoke had overwhelmed him.

The whole story meant nothing.

His life and work a mistake.

And nothing he had done

mattered at all.

[TYPEWRITER CLACKING]

[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]

Now...

[NICHOLAS]: Thank you.

I don't want to...

Well...

And there's no need at all. No, no need.

You want me to leave?

No, no. In fact, I'd say it's the opposite.

No, no, no.

I want you to feel free, completely free to ignore it.

Well...

I've worked at the office for many years.

They promote you, if you keep showing up.

I could...

I'm fairly sure I could, if it was alright.

A position for you there.

If you...

Thank you, Mr Flannery.

I'll think about it.

Yes, of course.

Whenever.

Just, you know...

say it.

[SHE KNOCKS]

Hello, Mam.

[MARGARET CHUCKLES]

[BELL JINGLES]

Well, so...

Tell me.

[SHE SIGHS]

I... I don't know what it is.

He's not what I imagined he'd be.

But it's never the same, is it?

The person that you imagined beforehand

and the real one who's now there beside you every day.

Not that he is here most days. Sometimes he just disappears.

But he's busy.

He's working hard for the shop and for our future.

I see.

Mammy, he is very funny.

And he does sometimes turn up with flowers.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING OUTSIDE]

You are...

You're so young.

I'm perfectly capable. You know, I run the shop.

Oh, yes.

You know...

there is no stopped clock of the heart

in which happiness holds.

There is an emptying as much as a filling of the heart.

And for it to last a lifetime

it has to be immense

at the start.

I'm thinking of repainting.

I've reorganised the tweed in the back

and I've made those displays.

And, um, new customers will...

- I mean... - Are you pregnant?

I'm sorry.

Sorry.

I love him.

I love him.

[SHIP'S HORN BLASTS]

[DISTANT CHATTER]

Thanks.

[MUIRIS]: Well?

She's alright.

Oh, thank God for that.

She thinks she's in love.

Dinner.

Who was your visitor?

- My mam. - Oh.

Come to see the place

you think you'll get your hands on, I suppose?

No, Maire. She just come to see me.

He won't, you know.

He's cursed.

He falls out of love every time.

He falls out

as soon as you've fallen in.

[MAIRE CHUCKLES]

[DISTANT CHATTER, MUSIC PLAYING]

- [DOOR OPENS] - [BELL JINGLES]

There she is.

Do you love me?

Do you love me?

You know the answer.

[ISABEL]: You love me?

Say it.

- Say it. - What?

Tell me you love me.

- Say it. - Stop.

Tell me you love me. Why won't you say it?

- Say it. Say it. - Stop, Issy.

Tell me you love me!

- Tell me you love me! - Stop.

Tell me you love me...

Shut up! Jesus...

Who do you think I am?

I'm sorry, Jesus, Issy. I...

I didn't want her to hear.

I don't care if your mother hears!

I'm sorry...

You looked at me like you hated me.

I don't hate you.

I don't.

I hate me.

I hate me.

I'm a...

I'm useless.

I'm the person that my mother told you I am.

I'm empty and I'm useless, and...

You should not love me.

You're alright.

Marry me.

[NICHOLAS, VO]: The snow, they said

came from the west that night.

It never came from the west.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

But now it was falling generally across the whole country.

An immense sky letter.

Falling in fragments

soundless and slow.

But saying...

saying something

is what I felt.

[GENTLE VOCALISING]

The longer you look, the more you see.

I want to go with you.

Aurea prima sata est aetas

qua vindice nullo...

Sponte sua, sine lege fidem rectumqua colebat...

[VOICE FADES OUT]

[WILLIAM'S VOICE ECHOES]: The golden age.

Remember?

Mr Flannery?

Mr Flannery?

Mr Flannery.

Where's the painting?

- What? - Where's the painting?

Out west.

[WISTFUL VOCALISING]

[WAVES CRASHING]

You know, I don't...

think that two people can ever really fall in love.

I think... there's always one who really falls.

And then the other one sees that and...

and just gives in.

Which is not nothing.

It is something.

And they think that maybe one day

they'll catch up, and it'll happen.

They'll fall.

Be in love, too.

You're never sure about anything, Seanie.

One day I am, and then the next day I'm lost again.

[WIND GUSTS]

I...

I love him. I do.

In some ways.

And then in others, I don't.

Not at all.

Do you think that...

Do you think I'm doing the wrong thing?

[GENTLE VOCALISING]

[IN IRISH]:

[WAVES CRASHING]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[MARGARET HUMS]

[DOOR OPENS]

Where have you been? There's lots to do.

Well, I'm back, aren't I?

Alright. I'm ready.

Mm-hmm.

[SHE GASPS]

What?

[FOOT TAPS]

Right.

I want you to listen to me and say nothing.

When I met him

when he fell for me, your father...

he said the poems wrote themselves.

They poured out of him.

And I took that as a sign.

But when they stopped

that would have to be a sign too.

I thought that love was poetry and moonlight.

It's not.

Falling in love. Well, that's the easy part.

The hard part is what follows.

You have to make a marriage.

The fact is...

wives, they create their husbands.

They begin with the...

well, they begin with the blundering and well-meaning

sometimes charming, sometimes irresistible

handsomeness they have fallen in love with.

And that is fine.

- But then begins the work. - [GENTLE MUSIC]

That work is years long.

Years.

Years.

In my case, 36 years and counting.

Years of hard labour

to make the man I could live with.

[WAVES CRASH]

[MUIRIS]: Ah...

- You look beautiful. - [SHE CHUCKLES]

You do too, Daddy.

[IN IRISH]:

Jesus, Nora.

Give over, would you?

[MARGARET]: Nora, Nora, come now. Leave off.

She's nervous.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[GIRLS LAUGH]

[GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES]

[FAINT CHATTER]

[CHURCH BELL RINGS]

[CHURCH BELLS RING IN DISTANCE]

Excuse me?

I'm looking for Mr Gore.

It's up the road, around the corner on the left.

Thank you.

[SEABIRDS CRY]

Right, we'll just get this off.

- [SEAN RASPS] - Wait. Hang on.

Rest back. It'll be alright.

Hello. Nicholas Coughlan.

Oh, sorry.

Here. Here, Sean...

It's not the best day for a visit.

My daughter got married today.

What did you say your name was?

Nicholas.

I was told Muiris Gore wrote the poem that won the painting.

My father painted it.

The competition? Hm!

He died.

I'd like to see it.

Well...

There's no fresh loaf, but...

there's a world of cake and buns.

Will you have tea or something?

[NICHOLAS]: It's fine. I don't need anything.

So you don't know Isabel?

[NICHOLAS]: Sorry?

My daughter, Isabel.

[NICHOLAS]: No, I don't think so.

If you stay with Sean, I'll get my husband.

Well, I could just come back tomorrow.

No, he needs extracting from where he is. Stay.

You're a godsend.

[DOOR SHUTS]

[LIVELY MUSIC PLAYS]

[GUEST]: Yeah, I have! I've been to seven.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Enough of that shite.

I'll play something for you now.

Go on, Peader.

[PEADER]: This one goes out to my darling Issy.

[GUITAR STRUMS]

♪ In the summer

♪ Of '62

- Good day, Margaret. - Beautiful.

Thanks, Billy.

♪ Bloody hue

♪ And a cradle empty...

We have a visitor.

Come on.

♪ She walks these roads

Get some air.

♪ In her wedding shoes

♪ Turn the lights on

♪ Seraphina

♪ Lovely lady

Y'alright.

♪ And she's walking

♪ And dressed in black

♪ She walks these roads...

[SHE SIGHS]

[MUSIC FADES OUT]

[GENTLE MUSIC]

[GENTLE VOCALISING]

[SEAN]: Mm.

[GENTLE VOCALISING CONTINUES]

Mm...

Mmm...

[SOFT HUMMING]

You alright?

[HE HUMS FAINTLY]

[GENTLE VOCALISING CONTINUES]

It's okay.

[SEAN GASPS]

Okay?

Help me.

Will you help me stand up?

[GENTLE VOCALISING CONTINUES]

[SEAN GRUNTS]

Okay.

[SEAN BREATHES DEEPLY]

[DOOR OPENS]

Dad!

Mm... I...

I...

I... I can stand up.

I... I didn't do anything.

Wh-when did this happen?

- How... - [NICHOLAS]: Maybe, uh...

We were just talking.

Stop, stop! I don't want any talk about this.

I don't want... It's just bad luck.

It's... It's not right!

Uh...

[SEAN]: See...

- Sean? - See...

[MARGARET]: How... How are you feeling?

Yeah. You know, I feel... I feel fine.

- And you've no pain? - No. No.

- No pain? - No. I...

Alright, get out!

Get out.

Get out.

- [DOOR BANGS] - [SEAN LAUGHS WEAKLY]

I am alright, Dad. Dad...

- [SHE SOBS] - I'm alright.

Oh!

Oh, thank God...

- [MARGARET SOBS] - There we are.

[MUFFLED SPEECH AND SOBS]

[IN IRISH]:

- Oh! - [THEY LAUGH]

[SEAN]: Come here!

[THEY LAUGH]

[HE CHUCKLES]

Get off! Let's see...

- Careful there, Sean. - No, I can... I can...

Come on.

- Oh, good man. - See?

[SHE SOBS AND LAUGHS]

You look great.

[THEY MUTTER]

You'll stay the night then?

Thank you.

And... and that painting?

It's yours.

Well, I can pay for it.

No.

It was already yours.

And thank you.

Good night.

Good night.

[BIRDS SING]

Thank you.

For... all this.

My mother was right, you're a...

you're a godsend.

I don't want you to leave.

It'll be okay.

I didn't do anything.

Well, what if you did?

[ISABEL]: Hello.

I was looking for you.

I saw you... on the bus. It was you.

Yeah.

And what happened to that other fella?

- Oh, my husband? - [SEAN CHUCKLES]

He went back on the ferry with his mam.

He had to open the shop.

I'll be going back with him too

once I'm sure you're not going to leave us again.

So, I ruined your honeymoon?

Ruined my life, yeah.

- You're hilarious. - [ISABEL]: I know.

Absolutely not.

If you can, you will. Get up there now.

- You're better at it than me. - No, I'm not.

Go on! Family celebration.

No excuses anymore.

Don't know what you're laughing at. Get up.

Tis a well-known, proven fact

that poets do not peel vegetables.

Or do plumbing.

But they do write poems.

And you're starting a new one, aren't you, Dad?

- I am, darling. I am. - Mm!

God help us all.

Try carrots.

Oh.

Everyone's so quiet.

Just can't believe it's you.

Sure, who else would it be?

It's him alright.

So, Peader couldn't stay?

Uh...

No.

[MARGARET]: No, no. Not with the shop.

And, of course, his mother.

Nah.

So, you'll be going back directly, no?

You're just wed.

Sure luck, I'll have the rest of my life

to be doing that.

Do you think you can still play, Sean?

I...

I don't know.

He can.

I'll bet he can.

Do you remember this?

- Come on. - [SEAN]: Alright.

[WHISTLE PLAYS TENTATIVELY]

[HE PLAYS JOYFUL TUNE]

[MARGARET LAUGHS]

Thank you.

[THEY CHUCKLE]

[THEY SQUEAK HAPPILY]

[ISABEL]: Come on!

[JOYFUL MUSIC]

[MUIRIS]: Good man, Sean.

I tell you...

Where's... where's the butter?

[MARGARET]: Oh, God. Your father's gone blind.

[NICHOLAS, VO]: I could not breathe

when you sat at the dinner table and touched my hand.

I could not think.

If there are moments on which lives turn

I knew this was one of mine.

But that I would fail it.

Do you play, Nicholas, or do you paint like your father?

Oh, Nicholas reads poetry.

What?

He told me.

Is that right?

I-I want to thank you both

for your kindness, but...

I'm gonna go.

Well, you can't go.

Cos there's no ferry until tomorrow.

Well, don't look so disappointed.

It might hurt my feelings.

Can you not feel what's happening?

Why do you always think something is happening?

Hmm?

- A woman has intuition. - Oh.

It's in the place where a man has stubbornness.

Well, why don't you intuit how to go to sleep?

- Hmm? - Huh.

I'll stay another day or two

if that's okay.

Of course, that's alright.

It's alright, isn't it, Ma?

Of course it's alright.

Margaret? Of course.

You're going back to Peader today, aren't you?

Um, maybe tomorrow.

Uh, we're going for a walk down the cliffs.

Okay.

You're not.

Why not, Mam? Mam...

I'll be alright.

He'll be alright.

It'll be fine...

Margaret.

Are you coming?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Right.

I'll race you.

You came back to us, only not all your brain did.

You have to be careful.

[IN IRISH]:

[THEY CHUCKLE]

Go!

Woo!

There's nothing here but sand and rocks and sea, and yet...

once you've been here, you can never leave.

You go anywhere else, and it follows you.

You love it.

Even when I hate it.

[WAVES CRASH]

[SEAN]: Hey, Issy.

What?

What?

[SHE LAUGHS]

[GENTLE MUSIC]

How is it that everywhere is full of water

but there's not a drop in here?

I'll have a look at it later.

Oh...

if you took a look

at all the things you said you'd look at later...

Then I wouldn't have eyes left for you.

Mm.

Muiris Gore.

I don't know what you are.

Oh, I don't know what I am either.

But I know what you are...

Margaret Gore.

[FOOTSTEPS ON STAIRS]

Y'alright?

I don't know.

Ah, sure...

None of us really know anything.

You... you find a road, and...

you walk along it as best you can.

[GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES]

[TIMID MUSIC]

I'm looking for an envelope.

You're not well.

I just need to post this.

No, you... you need to lie down.

I didn't get to say goodbye.

Post goes at three.

You go rest, I'll take it to the post office.

I've got a...

I've got a letter to send myself. Um...

[NICHOLAS]: I can take yours.

It's not finished.

Oh, well. I'll just take this then.

[DOOR OPENS]

[DOOR SHUTS]

[WOMAN]: Hey, Margaret.

We had your visitor in with us already.

Well, that's it, Aine. I, uh...

Well, he posted a letter to Isabel.

Would you mind giving it back to me?

I was to put a note in it before he...

Rushing about, he was?

Yes.

I told him there'd be no rushing about here.

No! I'll... just take it home

bring it back for tomorrow's collection.

Once it's crossed over here, it's posted.

Maybe you could write another note for your letter.

It's just the cost of a stamp.

No, I'll just...

Thank you, Aine.

[FIRE CRACKLES]

"Dear Isabel.

"I write these words on the page

"to feel your eyes reading them."

[NICHOLAS, VO]: I write them because what I have to say

I cannot say.

And I cannot breathe

if I do not say it.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

I see your face and for the first time in my life

- the world makes sense. - "...makes sense."

Oh, God.

[NICHOLAS, VO]: A sign. Any sign that there is hope.

What are you looking at me like that for?

You're the one who let her marry the wrong man.

[WAVES CRASH]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[NICHOLAS, VO]: I close my eyes and wait

and you are here.

Past and present at the same time.

Here and not here.

If I've offended you

my letter upset or hurt you, I'm sorry.

The truth is, I couldn't live and not say it.

The truth is, I have more to say to you

than would take a lifetime.

[SEAN]: Hey.

Where are you going?

I am going to post this for himself.

Oh! I'm going myself.

Give it here. Have some pie.

Grand.

I'll be back!

[SEAN]: Thank God.

I hardly got a chance to sit down all day.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

I will not let you destroy my daughter's life.

Has any letter come?

No. No.

She rarely writes. I never get any letters.

[MELANCHOLY VOCALISING]

Can you post this to her?

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

You're looking a bit feverish.

I think you have what he has.

Why don't you go to bed?

What are you doing?

I'm writing a love poem.

Oh, what is the matter with everyone in this house?

You're impossible. You're an impossible man.

Aren't they the best kind, though?

He needs to take the painting and go home.

Well, maybe he is home.

Oh, God!

[FOOTSTEPS STOMP LOUDLY]

[HE SNORES]

[GENTLE MUSIC]

[GENTLE VOCALISING]

[NICHOLAS MURMURS IN DISTANCE]

[NICHOLAS]: ...fourth letter of love.

[NICHOLAS CONTINUES MUTTERING]

- [DOOR SLAMS] - [SHE GASPS]

[GENTLE VOCALISING CONTINUES]

Alright.

Nicholas.

Nicholas.

This is the...

This is the poem that...

Muiris wrote.

It brought your father's painting here.

"Scríobhfaidh me ceithre litir ghrá duit."

"I will write you four letters of love."

"Agus tiocfaidh tu."

"And you will come."

[GENTLE MUSIC]

[SHE SIGHS]

I'm sorry!

Your letters were never posted!

It doesn't matter!

[WISTFUL VOCALISING]

[WAVES LAPPING]

[NICHOLAS, VO]: The world is, after all, quite simple.

There is grief and loss

and suffering...

but also love.

I am my father's son.

And so say.

There is sense to everything.

For how can there not be?

The world fits together.

I am choosing to believe.

And in choosing...

feel here is what is supposed to be.

And though, like all of us

at every moment, I did not know what would happen next...

I did not know how tomorrow would go

or where the story would take us.

What I did know...

was that both of our stories

were one.

[WISTFUL VOCALISING]

And that loving you

was what I was supposed to do.

[WISTFUL VOCALISING CONTINUES]

[UPLIFTING MUSIC]

♪ Island rose

♪ Island of dreaming hearts

♪ Madness grows

♪ Thoughts of you rip me apart

♪ A poet's daughter

♪ Came from the water

♪ Sing me another love song

♪ Sing me another song of love

♪ I'm chaos burning in fire and yearning ♪

♪ Sing me another love song

♪ The plot, the world resolves into bounteous spring ♪

♪ The painter knows

♪ The painter sees everything

♪ They paint a song

♪ I am lost but I am found

♪ Sing me another love song

♪ Sing me another song of love

♪ I'm chaos burning in fire and yearning ♪

♪ Sing me another love song

♪ I scout the earth to find half of my missing soul ♪

♪ For love won't die

♪ It shapeshifts to fit the mould ♪

♪ Sky letters above

♪ Teach four letters of love

♪ Sing me another love song

♪ Sing me another song of love

♪ I'm chaos burning in fire and yearning ♪

♪ Sing me another love song

♪ And there is no sure death in love's arms ♪

♪ As there is no stopped clock of the heart ♪

♪ And you are my breath, I am your love ♪

♪ Because both are stories I wrote ♪

♪ Sing me another love song

♪ Sing me another song of love

♪ I am chaos burning in fire and yearning ♪

♪ Sing me another love song