THE DEAD

Year: 1987
UK: Park Circus Films
Cast: Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, Rachel Dowling, Cathleen Delaney, Dan O'Herlihy, Donal Donnelly, Helena Carroll, Ingrid Craigie, Marie Kean, Sean McClory, Frank Patterson, Maria McDermottroe, Katherine O'Toole, Maria Hayden, Bairbre Dowling, Lyda Anderson, Colm Meaney, Cormac O'Herlihy, Paul Grant, Paul Carroll, Patrick Gallagher, Dara Clarke, Brendan Dillon, Redmond Gleeson, Amanda Baird
Director: John Huston
Countries: UK / Ireland
UK: 83 mins
UK Certificate: U
UK Release Date: 1 December 2006 (Limited Re-release - London, NFT)

UK Distributor

Synopsis

John Huston was a brilliant adaptor of literary works and THE DEAD is a superb adaptation of James Joyce's novel, Dubliners. Working from a script by his son Tony, he cast his daughter Anjelica Huston as Gretta Conroy, one of the guests gathered for a Christmas dinner in turn-of-the-century Dublin. Like all such celebrations, the party has its ups and downs, and a song by one of the assembly prompts Gretta to share with her husband Gabriel (Donal McCann) a memory, hitherto secret, of a passionate encounter years earlier in rural Galway that marked her deeply...

THE DEAD is a delicately understated but profoundly affecting tale of love, longing, loss and lives passed in private reverie. Witty and lyrical the film boasts many fine performances, particularly those from Anjelica Huston and Donal McCann as the couple unexpectedly drawn into a confessional discussion that proves revelatory in all kinds of ways.

To celebrate the John Huston centenary, THE DEAD, his last great achievement, is being released on a new 35mm print.