GUILTRIP (PG-13)
Director: Gerard Stenbridge
Stars: Andrew Connolly, Jasmine Russell, Michelle Houlden, Peter Hanly,
Pauline McLynn, Frankie McCafferty, Mikel Murfi, Fintan Lee
Running Time: 87 minutes.
Set in contemporary Ireland, Guiltrip is a chilling psychological thriller and a shatteringly potent cautionary tale about the way in
which domestic violence, fear and loathing, intimate secrets and lies, lust and guilt take their toll on an already unhappy
marriage. This complex, intensely brooding and savagely grim take on modern Ireland, where politics and religion still hold
sway, marks an assured and emotionally devastating feature film debut from writer/director Gerard Stenbridge, a veteran of
Dublin theatre and tv.
Tina (Jasmine Russell) is a mousy and timid housewife, who lives in fear of her husband Liam (Andrew Connolly), a corporal
with the local army regiment. The film begins on a dark and stormy night, when Liam arrives home unusually late and drunk,
spoiling for a fight. Liam usually rules his household with a rigid military discipline that is both foreign and repressive to Tina,
but on this particular night there is something more disturbing and troubling about his suspicious, relentless probing of how she
spent her day while he was on the base. Tina has a minor secret that she desperately wants to keep from Liam, and her little
evasions further anger him. Liam is also consumed by guilt at an ever larger and shocking secret, and the pair begin a violent
and tempestuous row that continually rages throughout the night.
There is no escape from the fiery emotions and rising tempers, and the intensely confronting scenes inside the couple's house
become increasingly more claustrophobic and oppressive as they lacerate each other in order to protect their own guilty
secrets. In a series of intricately constructed and non-linear flashbacks, Stembridge reveals how the parallel events of their day,
the chance meetings, characters and seemingly harmless discussions resonate and often unexpectedly impact on later events.
While out shopping, Tina desperately tries to avoid Jean, her gossipy and interfering neighbour Joan (Pauline McLynn), and
briefly flirts with Ronnie (Peter Hanly), the harmless but painfully awkward and comically pompous owner of the local
electrical goods store, who is bemused by his wife's sudden coldness. At the army camp Liam spies the voluptuous but
shrewish Michelle (Michelle Houlden), and sets out to engineer a meeting with her at a local pub in the evening, with the aim of
seducing her.
The events of that day, initially comic and seemingly mundane, soon take on a more disturbing and tragic quality as Stenbridge
takes us on a relentlessly bleak and troubled journey through the darker recesses of the human psyche. Like Crash and its ilk,
Guiltrip takes us into a dark abyss of sexual violence and twisted humanity, ultimately arriving at a shocking and brutal
denouement. Guiltrip is nasty stuff, and, although we may not like where Stenbridge takes us, somehow we feel compelled to
remain with this uncomfortable journey right to its bitter, savagely unexpected conclusion.
Stenbridge draws strong performances from his small ensemble stars, most of whom he has worked with previously in the
theatre. With searing intensity Connolly perfectly captures the latent violence and single minded obsession that makes Liam
physically intimidating and menacing, while slowly exposing the reasons behind his frustrations and obsessive mood. He is,
ultimately, a small impotent man at odds with the world at large, needing to lash out to prove himself. As the more vulnerable
Tina, Russell delivers a rich, emotional performance that offers a marked contrast to Connelly's fiery bluster, and engages the
audience's sympathy for her plight.
Stenbridge directs this emotionally harrowing scenario with assurance, adding some unexpected touches of brittle humour to
his grimly realistic scenario.