WHEN BRENDAN MET TRUDY

Year: 2000
USA: Shooting Gallery
UK: Momentum Pictures
Cast: Peter McDonald, Flora Montgomery, Marie Mullen, Pauline McLynn, Don Wycherley, Gabriel Byrne
Director: Kieron J Walsh
Countries: UK / Ireland
USA: 95 mins
UK: 94 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains some coarse and strong language, and moderate sex
USA Release Date: 9 March 2001 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 25 May 2001

Synopsis

NIGHT: Brendan, a teacher and movie buff, baritone and loner, lies on a Dublin street, face-down in a puddle. Paraphrasing William Holden at the start of Sunset Boulevard, he invites us to go back with him to 'the day it all started.' Brendan meets Trudy, a Montessori teacher, in a pub. They agree to meet again, for a movie, but Trudy doesn't show up. Brendan goes looking and finds her. They try again. The relationship brings Brendan to places he's never known - parties, the supermarket, friendship with a Nigerian refugee named Edgar - and the sex is glorious. For the first time in his adult life Brendan is having fun.

Then Brendan learns that Trudy is actually a burglar. He begins to enjoy a life of crime - and the sex is even better. Until he brings her to meet his family; the encounter with Nuala, the sister from Hell, brings the relationship to a screaming end. Brendan's pleas are useless - he even lies facedown in a puddle, pretending he has been hit by a car. But it's over.

Some days later, he sees on the news that Edgar is being deported. He rushes to help Edgar, assaults and is assaulted by the Gardai - live on television. Impressed, Trudy agrees to take him back - if he agrees to rob Nuala's house with her. Mission accomplished, they confess their love in the getaway car. Their next assignment is Brendan's idea: the school - a consignment of new computers. The attempted heist is interrupted and Trudy gives herself up to protect Brendan. She ends up in prison and he is racked with guilt and loneliness. Is their love doomed or will they find a way to reconcile their love?