Bloom (2003/I)

Director:

Sean Walsh

Writer:

James Joyce (novel)

Release Date:

16 April 2004 (Ireland)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The enthralling story of June 16th, 1904.

Plot:

Adapted from James Joyce's Ulysses, Bloom is the enthralling story of June 16th, 1904 and a gateway into the consiousness of its three main characters: Stephen Dedalus, Molly Bloom and the extraordinary Leopold Bloom.

Plot Keywords:

Cuckold | Drinking | Pub | Jew | Funeral

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Stephen Rea	...	Leopold Bloom
Angeline Ball	...	Molly Bloom
Hugh O'Conor	...	Stephen Dedalus
Neilí Conroy	...	Driscoll
Eoin McCarthy	...	Blazes Boylan
Alvaro Lucchesi	...	Buck Mulligan
Maria Hayden	...	May Dedalus
Aideen McDonald	...	Veiled girl
Pat McGrath	...	Butcher
Mark Huberman	...	Haines
Kenneth McDonnell	...	Armstrong
Hugh MacDonagh	...	Schoolboy
Andrew McGibney	...	Colm / Newsboy
Dan Colley	...	Bannon
Des Braiden	...	Deasy
Donncha Crowley	...	Father Coffey
Ronnie Masterson	...	Postmistress
Britta Smith	...	Martha
Paul Ronan	...	Lenehan
Alan Devlin	...	Simon Dedalus
Phelim Drew	...	Martin Cunningham
Ronan Wilmot	...	Virag Bloom
Peter Dix	...	Man in macintosh
Peadar Lamb	...	Editor
Sarah Jane Drummey	...	Dilly Dedalus
Dearbhla Molloy	...	Mrs. Breen
Jenny Maher	...	Mina Purefoy
Ruaidhri Finnegan	...	Apjohn
Eoin MacDonagh	...	Goldberg
Howard Jones	...	Young Bloom
Peter Gaynor	...	Russel
Russel Smith	...	Eglington
Seamus Walsh	...	Blindman
Mal Whyte	...	Librarian
Jack Lynch	...	Bookseller
Patrick Bergin	...	The citizen
Jimmy Keogh	...	Alf
Donal O'Kelly	...	Joe
Tom Bye	...	Man in pub
Rachael Pilkington	...	Gerty (as Rachel Pilkington)
Jamie Baker	...	Tommy
Colman Hanley	...	Jackey
Conor Delaney	...	Madden
Charlie Bonner	...	Pvt. Compton
Alexander Downes	...	Pvt. Carr
Eamon Rohan	...	Paddy Dignam
Luke Hayden	...	Keyes
Julie Hale	...	Zoe
Maria Lennon	...	Bella
Caoileann Murphy	...	Young Molly Bloom
Ciaran O'Brien	...	Mulvey
Dermot Moore	...	Mr. Stanhope
Steve Simmonds	...	Molly's father
Maurice Shanahan	...	Capt. Groves
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Justin C. Cohen	...	Bystander
Mick Fitzgerald	...	Fishmonger
Adam Fox Clarke	...	Rudy Bloom
Raymond Kean	...	Man in brothel

Directed by
Sean Walsh

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
James Joyce		novel

Produced by
Mark Byrne	....	co-producer
Steve McGettigan	....	associate producer
Gerry Moloney	....	associate producer
Gerry Murphy	....	executive producer
Crohan O'Shea	....	associate producer
Sean Walsh	....	producer
Stephen Walsh	....	associate producer

Original Music by
David Kahne

Cinematography by
Ciarán Tanham

Film Editing by
Sarah Armstrong

Casting by
Daniel Hubbard
Mary Maguire

Production Design by
Mervyn Rowe

Art Direction by
Stephen Simmonds

Costume Design by
Tara Van Zyl

Makeup Department
Muriel Bell	....	hair stylist
Rosie Blackmore	....	key makeup artist
Bernie Dooley	....	key hair stylist
Aisling Nairn	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Donal Ruane	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Rebecca Daly	....	trainee assistant director
Jill Dempsey	....	second assistant director
Nick McCarthy	....	first assistant director
Sinéad Murphy	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Oisin Breen	....	property master
BinBin Chen	....	art department support
Tamara Conboy	....	assistant art director
Riad Karin	....	set dresser
Gareth Mills	....	set dresser
John Neligan	....	buyer
John Neligan	....	prop buyer
John Nelligan	....	property buyer
Andy O'Neill	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Ray Cross	....	sound mixer
Adam Daniel	....	sound re-recording mixer
Graham Daniel	....	sound re-recording mixer
Caoimhe Doyle	....	foley artist
Liz Greene	....	sound trainee
Conor O'Toole	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Peter Haddon	....	colourist

Stunts
Donal O'Farrell	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Brennan	....	HD consultant
Keith Durham	....	focus puller
Niall Mannion	....	gaffer
Aideen McCarthy	....	camera trainee
Stephen Murphy	....	Steadicam operator
Darragh Shanahan	....	still photographer
Paul Tsan	....	key grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Joan Bergin	....	costume consultant
Kevin Gleeson	....	wardrobe
Carol Graham	....	costume supervisor

Transportation Department
Paul Cullen	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Grainne Mac Anthony	....	location trainee
Ed Baran	....	publicist
Richard Collins	....	horse master
Gillian Flood	....	clearance
Sinead Hanna	....	production accountant
Kieran Hennessy	....	location manager
Jeanette McGrath	....	script supervisor
Conor O'Carroll	....	assistant location manager

Production Companies

• Odyssey Pictures

Distributors

• Stoney Road Films (Ireland)
• Films sans Frontières (2005) (France) (all media)
• Lighthouse Home Entertainment (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• MTI Home Video
• Movienet (Germany)
• Prooptiki (2004) (Greece) (all media)

Other Companies

• Henson Recording  music recording
• Hubbard Casting  casting
• Millbrook Studios  production services
• Shepperton Studios  dubbing theatre
• Shepperton Studios  sound post-production
• The Farm  post-production
• VFG  camera, grip and lighting equipment

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content including dialogue

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | Ireland:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Brazil:16 | Singapore:M18

Filming Locations:

Dalkey Island, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

Odyssey Pictures

Trivia:

Director Sean Walsh's name appears as the owner of one of the horses in the paper in one scene.

Quotes:

Stephen Dedalus:History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake

Movie Connections:

Version of Ulysses (1967)

We are very lucky that a director like Sean Walsh came along when he did and made such a beautiful film.

When you go to see a movie it helps if you know a little bit about the subject. For example if you see a James Bond film it helps if you know that he is British and against the Russians – or whatever. It's the same with this film – it helps if you know about James Joyce and helps even more if you know about Ulysses which the movie has been adapted from. The book has many themes and it's a book where the words are very important – not the plot; so the director has made the words important to this movie.

One of the most famous passages in Ulysses is Molly Bloom's Penelope soliloquy at the end of the book. It starts on page 659 and ends on page 704 – it is one long stream of consciousness sentence with no punctuation and only gaps for paragraphs; it takes in many images and history of the characters. In this film the director, Sean Walsh, starts with this soliloquy and during it he cuts to various memories of her loving 'Poldy' – Leopold Bloom - in good times and to her sexual exploits with the current beau Blazes Boylan. This works very well and the music, 'Love's Old Sweet Song,' matches underneath the soliloquy perfectly. Ulysses, apart from being written in many styles of other writers of the time, has parts which are dedicated to the human body, parts which are dedicated to colours and parts which are dedicated to music and one of the most memorable pieces of music, which goes with the stunning cinematography by Ciarán Tanham, is the aforementioned 'Love's Old Sweet Song'; this music sets the mood for the whole film.

The soliloquy is used throughout the film as a counter commentary to the innermost thoughts of her husband, Bloom. He knows what she is doing back at their house in Eccles Street with Blazes Boylan, who is supposed to be there to arrange a concert tour, so he stays out of the way and goes on his famous wander around Dublin with the text being spoken in voice over as he observes his day, on June 16th 1904, as it has been his day, Bloomsday, ever since.

Ulysses is what you might describe as an epic novel. Other adaptations of epic novels, such as East of Eden, concentrate on a certain section of the book. This film doesn't do that. There will be those who might think this film tries to do too much but I don't think so; I think it does enough. It gives you a smattering of what Ulysses is about and if you have never read it this film will give you a good start; a kind of Cliff's Notes on film.

I first heard Stephen Rea play Stephen Dedalus on BBC radio and here he is coming full circle and playing Bloom. A little less rotund than one has imagined Bloom to be but perfectly cast nonetheless and very intelligently played - as is Molly Bloom by the voluptuous Angeline Ball – hasn't she come on since her debut in 'The Commitments' and why don't we see more of her?

Usually it's very hard to get anything by James Joyce produced as the rights to his works are owned by his grandson Stephen. But I believe this film was started when James Joyce's works were in public domain before the law changed. We are very lucky that a director like Sean Walsh came along when he did and made such a beautiful film. I think he was governed by the budget in a good way as I dread to think what a Hollywood Studio would have done with a massive budget.

As I mentioned this took place on June 16th 1904 and on that day the winner of the gold cup was a horse called 'Throwaway' and when Bloom inadvertently tips the winner we can see that the jockey on the horse is a certain Mr Sean Walsh.

The reason why this story is set on June 16th 1904 is because that was the day James Joyce first walked out with his beloved Nora Barnacle. As Sean Walsh took a little licence over the end credits with Bloom wandering around modern Dublin might it have been more fitting as this was a film to have a glimpse of James Joyce and Nora walking together on that fateful day?