Four Letters of Love (12A) |Close-Up Film Review
Dir: Polly Steele, UK/Ireland/ 2025, 105 mins.
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter, Gabriel Byrne, Fionn O’Shea, Ann Skelly
Review by Carlie Newman
Against a backdrop of some lovely West Ireland countryside, we see the adult William (Pierce Brosnan) and his wife and their son, Nicholas (Fionn O’Shea) and the parents, father (Gabriel Byrne) and mother (Helena Bonham Carter) of Isabel (Ann Skelly).
Nicholas, as a VoiceOver, looks back at how his father had a sudden vision and left his civil service job in Dublin and his family to become a painter in the 1970s. Isabel is sent away by her parents to a convent school. She doesn’t fit in at all and when she meets the charismatic Peader (Ferdinand Walsh-Peelo), Isabel leaves the school and marries Peader.
More magic and the drama occur as the two young people, Nicholas and Isabel, are drawn together. There is some good acting from Bonham Carter and Brosnan and the young people emote well together. Polly Steele direct as best she can with the somewhat over the top dialogue. A nice well acted romantic film that will appeal to those who are not over demanding.
