The Dead

A close-knit Irish family gathers for a festive dinner, where polite small talk, music and old stories fill the evening. As the party winds down, Gabriel and Gretta Conroy leave to walk through a snowy Dublin, and a quiet, private conversation unfolds that forces Gabriel to reassess how well he knows his wife and himself. Tensions that were only hinted at during the party surface in their exchange, bringing memories and regrets into the open. The film keeps its focus tight on mood and character, letting silences and gestures speak as much as the dialogue, and it avoids sensationalizing the couple's struggles.

Released in 1987, the film was directed by John Huston and adapted for the screen by Tony Huston from James Joyce's short story "The Dead." The cast includes Anjelica Huston as Gretta Conroy, Donal McCann as Gabriel Conroy, and Dan O'Herlihy among the supporting players. The production is noted for preserving the story's period detail and literary tone.

The Dead received a limited theatrical release and made a modest commercial impression, attracting more attention on art house circuits than at the mainstream box office. Its restrained pace and literary source meant it appealed largely to critics and viewers who favor adaptations of classic literature over wide commercial fare.

The film is often remembered for its atmospheric fidelity to Joyce, especially the snow-laden final sequence that echoes the story's closing images. Anjelica Huston's performance and the film's careful use of sound and music have kept it in conversations about faithful literary adaptations, and it appears regularly on lists of notable movies based on short fiction.

Critical response tended to praise the film's tone, period detail and performances, reflected in a vote average of 6.8/10 from viewers. Reviewers highlighted themes of memory, marital estrangement, mortality and Irish cultural identity, noting how the movie lets small domestic moments accumulate into a profound sense of loss and longing.