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The Snapper (film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Snapper' is a 1993 Irish television film directed by Stephen Frears and starred Tina Kellegher, Colm Meaney and Brendan Gleeson. The film is based on the novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, about the Curley family and their domestic adventures. For his performance, Meaney was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Plot
Soon after a wild night at the pub, twenty-year-old Sharon Curley finds herself expecting a little "snapper" by a man she loathes. Her refusal to name the father sets in motion a family drama involving her three brothers, two sisters, and her parents, along with her employers and all her friends. Kellegher, playing the role as a coarse, earthy, yet remarkably sensible young woman (with the exception of her excessive drinking during her pregnancy) soon discovers who her friends really are, as some people tease and torment her, some make remarks to her siblings, some force her father to take direct action in her defence, and all spread gossip. She decides to keep the baby ("snapper") and her family, each in their own way, eventually decides to support her. Her father particularly studies up on childbirth and female anatomy (with gratifying results for his wife as a bonus).
Des Curley, Sharon's father, shows the whole world in his face, his emotions ranging from outrage toward Sharon for embarrassing the family to tender concern as her time draws near. As the eight-member family trips all over each other emotionally (symbolised in their battles for the one bathroom, often occupied by Sharon), the tensions within the family grow more intense. Widespread speculation about who the father disrupts the neighbourhood, with some hotheads visiting their own brand of justice on the Curleys. The arrival of the baby offers a chance at resolution.
It turns out that Sharon's friend's father, Georgie Burgess, got her pregnant after he had sex with a severely inebriated Sharon in a car park. It is suggested that this encounter was nonconsensual. Her story is that it was a Spanish sailor, but the whole town suspects the truth that it is Burgess as he writes a letter to his wife apologising for getting a young girl pregnant.
Cast
* Tina Kellegher as Sharon Curley
* Colm Meaney as Des Curley
* Brendan Gleeson as Lester
* Pat Laffan as George Burgess
* Rynagh O'Grady as the Neighbour
* Stanley Townsend as the Anaesthetist
* Stuart Dunne as Bertie
* Barbara Bergin as Dawn
* Birdie Sweeney as the Loner
* Cathleen Delany as the Oul'One
* Cathy Belton as the Desk Nurse
* Tom Murphy as the Pal
* Stephen Kennedy as the Supermarket Trainee Manager
* Roddy Doyle as Himself
* Karen Woodley as Yvonne Burgess
* Virginia Cole as Doris Burgess
* Denis Menton as Pat Burgess
* Peter Rowen as Sonny Curley
* Eanna MacLiam as Craig Curley
* Colm O'Byrne as Darren Curley
* Joanne Gerrard as Lisa Curley
* Ciara Duffy as Kimberley Curley
* Deirdre and Dierdre O'Brien as Mary Curley
* Aisling Conlan and Alannagh McMullen as Baby Curley
* Sheila Flitton as Missis Twix
* Jack Lynch as Cancer
* Ronan Wilmot as Paddy
* Fionnuala Murphy as Jackie O'Keefe
Production
The surname of the Rabbitte family in the book had to be changed to Curley as 20th Century Fox owns the rights to the Rabbitte name from 'The Commitments' (1991), which featured the same characters. The film was shot in many familiar locations around Dublin including Raheny, Kilbarrack, Ballybough, Dn Laoghaire & The Old Shieling Hotel.
Year-end lists
* 4th Douglas Armstrong, 'The Milwaukee Journal'
* Top 7 (not ranked) Duane Dudek, 'Milwaukee Sentinel'
* Top 10 (not ranked) Dennis King, 'Tulsa World'
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