The Dead (1987)

Gabriel Conroy and wife Greta attend an early January dinner with friends at the home of his spinster aunts, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them.

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

James Joyce (short story from "Dubliners"), Tony Huston (screenplay)

Stars:

Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, Helena Carroll

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Helena Carroll	...	Aunt Kate
Cathleen Delany	...	Aunt Julia
Rachael Dowling	...	Lily
Kate O'Toole	...	Miss Furlong (as Katherine O'Toole)
Bairbre Dowling	...	Miss Higgins
Maria Hayden	...	Miss O'Callaghan
Cormac O'Herlihy	...	Mr. Kerrigan
Colm Meaney	...	Mr. Bergin
Ingrid Craigie	...	Mary Jane
Dan O'Herlihy	...	Mr. Brown
Anjelica Huston	...	Gretta
Donal McCann	...	Gabriel
Sean McClory	...	Mr. Grace (as Seán McClory)
Frank Patterson	...	Bartell D'Arcy
Marie Kean	...	Mrs. Malins

Storyline

On the lightly snowy evening of January 6, 1904 in Dublin, elderly spinster sisters Kate and Julia and their niece, Mary Jane - all music teachers or performers, past or present - are hosting their annual Epiphany party and dinner, and, with the exception of Mary Jane's new crop of students and the young gentlemen tasked with keeping them company, most of the guests have attended in previous years. Kate and Julia's nephew Gabriel and his wife Gretta hold integral roles for the evening, Gabriel, who, in addition to being Freddy Malins caregiver if he gets too drunk as is often the case, is to carve the dinner goose and provide the evening's main toast, while Gretta is to present the pudding. With the added unexpected excitement provided by Irish nationalist Molly Ivors for Gabriel, the party basically goes according to script. As most of the guests have departed and just before Gabriel and Gretta are to do the same - this year they staying in a downtown hotel instead of making the long...

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Plot Keywords:

ireland | haunted by the past | dublin ireland | dinner party | 1900s | 

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Taglines:

A vast, merry, and uncommon tale of love.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK Ireland USA West Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 December 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

John Huston's The Dead

Filming Locations:

15 Usher's Island, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$69,074, 20 December 1987, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$4,370,078

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vestron Pictures,Zenith Entertainment,Liffey Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min 79 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The word-count of the film's 1914 source short story of the same name by James Joyce totals to 15,672 words.

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Quotes

Molly Ivors: I didn't think you were a West Briton!
Gabriel Conroy: And what do you mean, a West Briton?
Molly Ivors: Someone who looks to England for our salvation instead of depending on ourselves alone.

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Alternate Versions

Ten minutes of the film have been omitted from the 2009 DVD release.

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Connections

Featured in Anjelica Huston on James Joyce: A Shout in the Street (2017)

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Soundtracks

The Lass of Aughrim
Traditional Irish ballad
Sung by Frank Patterson

User Reviews

"Think of all those who ever were, back to the start of time…"

The last film of John Huston, the great American director of the Irish descent is an adaptation of the last short story in the early collection "Dubliners", of the greatest writer ever came from Ireland. The film is a family affair. The dying director made it based on the script adapted by his son Tony Huston from one of the most poignant, beautiful and profound short story ever written in this language and considered by many THE BEST English language short story. John directed his daughter Anjelica in what could be her finest screen performance. The film is short, only 83 minutes. It's got no action sequences, no plot, it is almost non-eventful, and it may seem slow. The guests, friends and relatives come to the party that takes place in Dublin during the Epiphany week in January 1904, at the house of two elderly sisters who give annual dinner with music and dance. What viewers see for the first hour, is the ensemble conversation piece. The guests talk, listen to the music, discuss the latest opera premiere, and make jokes, sometimes awkward. Gradually, the conversation turns to the long dead friends or relatives the memory of whom never faded away.

This is the film you have to stay with, let it pull you in, listen to what and how the guests at the party say, how they communicate. Pay attention to the body languages, to the looks at their faces when they drift away from the light, laugh, and music of the present to the long gone but never in fact left most precious memories where the Dead of the title are not dead but forever young and so alive. If you do, you will be awarded with the final scene of such emotional power and impact that it will always stay with you. It will break your heart to pieces, pull them together and put it back transfixed. The film as well as Joyce's story centers on Gabriel Conroy (Donal McCann as James Joyce's alter ego gave a very moving understated performance) as one of the party guests who arrives with his wife Gretta (Anjelica Huston). Gabriel is still in love, feels close connection to and fascinated with her. It is after the party, he discovers that even after many years of closeness, he does not know all about her past, her pains, her regrets, and the unforgettable emotions and loss she had lived through as a young girl, and he is no part of. For the first time, he looks at her and thinks of her not as the indelible part of his existence but as another human being with her own inner world, her own loneliness and sadness, and for the first time, "a strange, friendly pity for her entered his soul." It is he who narrates the final most powerful and profound lines of the story: "Snow is general all over Ireland. . . falling faintly through the universe, and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

If you have not seen the film or read the Joyce's story, please do. They are truly the works of Art that leave the everlasting impression and would change something in you to the best.