The Eclipse (2009)

Director:

Conor McPherson

Writers:

Conor McPherson (screenplay)
Billy Roche (story)

Release Date:

15 April 2010 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Romance

Tagline:

If there is life after death - love lives on

Plot:

In a seaside Irish town, a widower sparks with a visiting horror novelist while he also begins to believe he is seeing ghosts. |

Plot Keywords:

Irish | Widower | Ghost | Novelist | Fistfight

Awards:

5 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Billy Roche	...	Jim Belton
Eanna Hardwicke	...	Thomas Farr
Hannah Lynch	...	Sarah Farr
Ciarán Hinds	...	Michael Farr
Mac	...	Ringo the Dog
Avian Egan	...	Eleanor Farr
Aidan Quinn	...	Nicholas Holden
Hilary O'Shaughnessy	...	TV Interviewer
Jim Norton	...	Malachy
Nuala Casey De Backer	...	Festival Organiser
Sarah Murphy	...	Festival Volunteer
Iben Hjejle	...	Lena Morrell
Mia Quinn	...	Ghost Girl
Declan Nash	...	Man in Hotel Bar
Valerie Spelman	...	Jenny Sewell
Laurent Tavernier	...	Restaurant Waiter
Julie Kellegher	...	Hotel Waitress
Rosie O'Regan	...	Lantern Lady
Billy Ramsell	...	Writer 1
Mick Lynch	...	Writer 2
Donncha Crowley	...	Writer 3
Gráinne Gillis	...	Writer 4 (as Grainne Gillis)
Casper Christensen	...	Writer 5
Pauline Quinn	...	Nun 1 (as Sister Pauline)
Madeleine Cinquin	...	Nun 2 (as Sister Emmanuelle)
Mary Murphy	...	Woman Patient in nursing home
Jean Law	...	Susan Holden (as Jean Van Sinderen-Law)
Ian Richard	...	Hand Artist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dorothy Cotter	...	(uncredited)
Catherine Crowley	...	Festival attendee (uncredited)

Directed by
Conor McPherson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Conor McPherson		screenplay
Billy Roche		story and screenplay

Produced by
Cathleen Dore	....	co-producer
Donal Geraghty	....	co-producer
Paddy McDonald	....	executive producer
Rebecca O'Flanagan	....	executive producer
Robert Walpole	....	producer

Original Music by
Fionnuala Ní Chiosáin

Cinematography by
Ivan McCullough

Film Editing by
Emer Reynolds

Casting by
Oonagh Kearney

Production Design by
Mark Geraghty

Costume Design by
Consolata Boyle

Production Management
Tim Morris	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Brian Deane	....	trainee assistant director
Mike Hayes	....	third assistant director
Lisa Kelly	....	second assistant director
Peter Nightingale	....	first assistant director
Marie-Celine O'Reilly	....	trainee assistant director: dailies

Art Department
Philip Murphy	....	property master
Edwin Ryan	....	sculptor

Sound Department
Caoimhe Doyle	....	foley artist
John Fitzgerald	....	adr mixer
John Fitzgerald	....	sound re-recording mixer
Aza Hand	....	foley editor
Fionn Higgins	....	dialogue editor
Ronan Hill	....	sound mixer
Ronan Hill	....	sound recordist
Alex Hudd	....	sound consultant: dolby
Eoghan McDonnell	....	foley assistant
Jean McGrath	....	foley recordist
Michael McKnight	....	boom operator
Jon Stevenson	....	supervising sound editor
Steve Fanagan	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Kevin Byrne	....	special effects supervisor
Kevin Nolan	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
John Kennedy	....	digital artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Addo Gallagher	....	electrician
Howard Gibson Steele	....	gaffer
Davie Mayes	....	generator operator
Simon Surtees	....	second assistant camera: "a" camera
Roger Tooley	....	steadicam operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Claire Jennings	....	costume assistant
Sue Wain	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Matt Branton	....	colorist
Dave Hughes	....	digital intermediate colorist
Gareth Nolan	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Philip Begley	....	music recording/mixing engineer

Other crew
Brian Deane	....	extras coordinator
Emer Egan	....	assistant accountant
Donal Geraghty	....	production accountant
Kerensa Magnusson	....	script supervisor (as Kerensa Burton)
Claire McCaughley	....	production executive
Barry Newman	....	assistant location manager
Roisin Scully	....	assistant coordinator

Production Companies

• Treasure Entertainment (presents)
• Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) (in association with)
• Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (in association with)
• Irish Film Board (with the participation of)
• Programme MEDIA de la Communauté Européenne (with the support of)
• Irish Film Industry, Government of Ireland (with the support of)

Distributors

• Filmtrade (2010) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Magnolia Pictures (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• Audio Visual Entertainment (2011) (Greece) (DVD)
• Filmtrade (2009) (Greece) (all media)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2009) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East, North Africa & Iran)
• Jump Street Films (2010) (Australia) (all media)
• Jump Street Films (2010) (New Zealand) (all media)
• Magnolia Pictures (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Mongrel Media (2010) (Canada) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Windmill Lane Pictures  post-production facilities

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some disturbing images

Runtime:

USA:88 min | USA:86 min (Tribeca Film Festival)

Country:

Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45701) | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Cobh, County Cork, Ireland

Company:

Treasure Entertainment

Big subject, slight treatment

The Eclipse has lots of good things about it, but in the end, the pieces don't hold together. Part of the problem is the editing and writing. There are many long shots - beautiful - with the most peculiar music playing, a mixture of bad Benjamin Britten and Philip Glass, and it goes on and on, setting a vague, angsty, weird mood. The story is a wisp, and the writing, while good, doesn't fill the film. The interior sets as well as the gorgeous Irish country side are beautiful, but some scenes are so badly shot that you can hardly see what's going on.

I kept watching because - besides expecting a payoff - the acting and characters are appealing. Hinds is great - he holds a lot in, myriad emotions flicker across his face, he clearly has a large interior life. The female lead grew on me, although her character is odd and prickly. Quinn, fabulously good, plays a character who's just a plot device to get the others in the right places, but he's so vivid, full-realized, pathetic and despicable at the same time, that the plot should have served him better. When the three leads get together, the film changes, and it's charged, strong, unpredictable, real, surprising.

We care about the emotional subject - unresolved grief, the spiritually or psychologically open states we can find out selves in, and how to move on and in to our lives. But it's as if half the film got left on the editing floor - the half with more acting and less music. It's like there are holes in the movie, filled with music. I know there was more there, but we can't see it. Worth checking out anyway for the acting.