Real Weddings: Fernando and Gary’s lavish wedding at Adare Manor
Real Weddings: Fernando and Gary’s lavish wedding at Adare Manor

Shayna Sappington

6 ways to practice self-love this Valentine’s Day
6 ways to practice self-love this Valentine’s Day

IMAGE

Team IMAGE share the first concerts they ever went to
Team IMAGE share the first concerts they ever went to

Sarah Gill

Page Turners: ‘The Morrigan’ author Kim Curran
Page Turners: ‘The Morrigan’ author Kim Curran

Sarah Gill

‘I make jewellery to support my family, but such luxuries feel dystopian in times like these’
‘I make jewellery to support my family, but such luxuries feel dystopian in times like...

Sarah Finnan

Berlin Fashion Week: A journey through style and culture
Berlin Fashion Week: A journey through style and culture

Nneka Michel

This Irish family jewellers specialise in diamond rings and love stories
This Irish family jewellers specialise in diamond rings and love stories

IMAGE

A day in the life of an Irish photographer at Copenhagen Fashion Week
A day in the life of an Irish photographer at Copenhagen Fashion Week

Josh Barrett

Bring Them Down: Violence and vengeance in the west of Ireland
Bring Them Down: Violence and vengeance in the west of Ireland

Sarah Finnan

Modern Heritage: Inside fabric designer Juliet O’Carroll’s wonderfully patterned home
Modern Heritage: Inside fabric designer Juliet O’Carroll’s wonderfully patterned home

Ciara Elliot

Image / Editorial

What Maisie Knew


By Bill O'Sullivan
02nd Sep 2013
What Maisie Knew

What Maisie Knew has the difficult task of capturing the disintegration of the family unit as seen through the eyes of the child at the centre of it. Julianne Moore uncharacteristically plays a dislikable character in the figure of the mother – a semi washed-up rockstar who alternately love-bombs and neglects her daughter, abandoning her at a bar late at night to then buy her an electric guitar at the following encounter.

maisieThe father, played by a surprising Steve Coogan, is possibly an even less redeeming character, caught between the inability to connect with his child and the reality of being too self-involved to do so. Filmed from Maisie’s perspective, played by the precociously talented child-actor Onata Aprile, it captures the readjustments that are commonplace in a relationship breakdown, but that assume heart-breaking magnitude when seen through the eyes of the child. The film is based on the Henry James novel, from which it lifts its central trope, revolving the action around an omniscient but silent party, who understands and yet does not communicate the complexity of what she is witnessing. Whilst it gives the Hollywood treatment to James’s nuanced and sinister story, it’s a clever and beautiful movie with flawless central performances.

Roisin Agnew @Roxeenna