Middletown: Empire Review (2006)

Reviewer: Helen OHara * * *

Plot
When he returns home to his Irish village, the recently ordained Gabriel finds that his new found religious zeal is not as compatible with family cohesion as he might have wished.

Empire Review
Matthew Macfadyen leaves Mr. Darcy far behind to play a repressed zealot in rural Ireland in the 1960s. Centring on the return home of the newly ordained Gabriel (Macfadyen), this drama pits fanaticism against family when the new minister tries to impose his own rigid morality on his father (McSorley), brother (Mays) and sister-in-law (Birthistle).

It’s interesting to see a film about religion in Ireland that doesn’t also feature terrorism or sectarianism, and Macfadyen injects depth as well as brimstone into his character. But while it’s beautifully shot in blues and greys, it feels a little too theatrical to ever quite fill the big screen.

6point7 had typed this out and posted the review on her website a few weeks ago!