The Quiet Girl

A reserved girl from a troubled home is sent to spend the summer with relatives in the countryside. Far from the chaos she knows, she discovers patience, care, and a steadier rhythm in this new household. The days are simple and luminous as she learns to trust, speak up, and notice small wonders in the world around the yard and fields. Her hosts offer steady kindness and a patient ear, and she grows more confident, sharing meals, stories, and quiet ambitions she never voiced before. Yet a quiet unease lingers, a secret beneath the surface that threatens to surface, shaping the summer's slow, transformative arc. The summer light shifts, and her quiet progress feels like a quiet revolution.

Released in 2022, The Quiet Girl was directed by Colm Bairéad and adapted from Claire Keegan's novella Foster. The film stars Catherine Clinch as Cáit, with Andrew Bennett and Carrie Crowley portraying the relatives who shape her summer.

Nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards, the film earned international recognition for its understated approach. The nomination highlighted Colm Bairéad's precise direction and Catherine Clinch's restrained performance, boosting Irish cinema's visibility on the global stage. It also helped amplify conversations around contemporary Irish storytelling.

The Quiet Girl has been praised for quietly reshaping how intimate family life is portrayed on screen. Its restrained camera work and compassionate storytelling have helped bring Irish cinema to a broader audience, prompting conversations about memory, belonging, and the unspoken ties that shape children. Festival audiences responded to its patience and tenderness, and the film earned a place beside well known Irish works.

Critics highlighted the film's spare elegance and Catherine Clinch's restrained performance. Thematically, it centers on tenderness, resilience, and the slowly earned trust that can bloom in a dangerous absence of instability, offering a quiet meditation on kinship and the costs of silence. The sound design and score underscore the sense of stillness that frames Cáit's growth.