The Virtues (2019 Shane Meadows)

Jack Thorne and Shane Meadows' powerful study of an abused alcoholic reuniting with his sister in Ireland. Stephen Graham will win awards for this... he's absolutely terrific, but so are Helen Behan and Niamh Algar. It's frequently hypnotic, like the This Is England series, the reconciliation scene between Graham and his sister being improvised and done in one take. It makes for incredible, absorbing stuff.

Edited (on Avid) by Matthew Gray concurrently with filming.

C4 interview:

"And then you have Helen [Behan] who, as you’ve mentioned, plays his sister and back at home in Ireland works as a nurse, which seems unbelievable – she is outstanding in this.

Yeah, I know. I met her completely randomly in a pub when I was on holiday with my wife and son in Ireland. I’m a big believer in fate. I was given a start and a break in a very unconventional way by someone who took a big chance on me. So I’ve always been open to the idea that I might be meeting the next ‘Vicky McClure’ or ‘Paddy Considine’ when I’m walking round Wilko’s. Plenty of times people give you their details and inevitably over the years those pieces of paper can get lost. But sometimes you are meant to meet people and the stars align to bring you back together.

When we sat down to write This Is England ’88, Jack suggested this idea of Lol (Vicky McClure) going to see the nurse to admit she’s struggling mentally. As soon as he said ‘nurse’ I remembered meeting Helen in that pub and got straight in touch with her. Fairly soon after, she came over to England for an audition, threw up for about four hours before she did it, then came to improv a scene with Vicky and was as good and as natural as she is in The Virtues. Some people have this built-in ability to be completely natural and honest on camera and Helen is definitely one of them."

We'd hoped it wasn't based on something that happened in Shane's life - unfortunately that's exactly what happened to him, also aged nine, and the subsequent suppressed memory, told in this Guardian interview with Miranda Sawyer. (This Is England is quite autobiographical too.)

The script is tightly written - then there's much rehearsal and improvisation.

The ending feels shambolic, open... Has Niamh killed her mum? Where on earth had Helen's husband got to? Also, did find part of soundtrack score towards end sounded like a lawn mower!

Music by PJ Harvey, cinematography by Nick Gillespie.