Tara Road (film)

Tara Road is a 2005 film directed by Gillies MacKinnon. It is based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Maeve Binchy.[3]

Tara Road
Directed byGillies MacKinnon
Written byCynthia Cidre
Shane Connaughton
Starring
Music byJohn E. Keane
CinematographyJohn de Borman
Production
company
Release date
2005
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget€10-15 million[1][2]

Plot

Two women trade houses without ever having met. They're both looking for an escape from their problems, but by running away, both come to discover a great deal about themselves.

Ria Lynch is married to Danny Lynch and they have a daughter and a son. Danny begins spending less and less time at home with his wife and children. Ria believes another baby is the solution, and is shocked to find out that indeed her husband is going to be a father - but to a child from an affair he has been having. Her husband's unfaithfulness is the event that leads Ria into her decision to switch homes with a woman from the US called Marilyn who lost her teenage son to a motorcycle accident on his birthday. Marilyn is struggling to come to terms with her son's death and has become estranged from her husband (who had bought the motorbike as a birthday gift). She hopes her time in Dublin will cease her grief.

Cast

Production

Tara Road is the fourth Maeve Binchy novel to be adapted for film or television.[6] Binchy said she once swapped her house in London to stay in Sydney Austrialia, but that the story wasn't autobiographical "because nothing would be duller than reading about two happily married, settled couples, which is what we and they were" although the trip did inspire the story.[4] She praised the writers for condensing her 600 page novel into a 109 page script.[7] The filmmakers asked Binchy which location in Dublin she had been thinking of for Tara Road and she told them but the real location proved impractical and they instead found a different location like the one she had in mind.[4]

Filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa for three weeks for the scenes set in Connecticut.[7] Kenilworth Square area of Rathgar, Dublin, was as the location of titular Tara Road.[7] Caviston's deli and restaurant in Glasthule, Dublin was used for filming.[5]

The film premiered at the Savoy Cinema Dublin, September 29, 2005.[8][9]

Reception

Michael Dwyer of The Irish Times called it a "sketchy, conventional melodrama" and said the film "has the distinct whiff of a movie made for export, and it lacks the realistic grounding of the only earlier Binchy film, Circle of Friends (1995)." Dwyer was critical adaptation from the book, as the editing had left "gaps in the narrative and characterisation."[10][11] Padraic McKiernan of the Irish Independent was positive about MacDowell's star quality, but found the ending farcical.[12]

In 2007, producer Noel Pearson called the film a disappointment, saying "There was no chemistry there, and you could see that on the screen. It was one of those things that just disintegrated from day one. You never know what's going to happen."[13]

Home media

The film was released on DVD October 9, 2007.[14]

See also

References
  1. "Movies on a roll as Andie joins cast". Irish Independent.
  2. Adrienne Sweeney (November 16, 2004). "Andie shows why she's a touch of class". Irish Independent.
  3. Harris, Dana (12 October 2004). "Duo will travel on indie 'Road'". Variety.
  4. "Called to the bar". The Irish Times.
  5. Grainne Cunningham (October 23, 2004). "A gourmet cameo for Binchy in Tara Road". Irish Independent.
  6. "HITS & MISSES: MAEVE AT THE MOVIES". Irish Independent.
  7. "Stars begin filming Binchy novel in Dublin". Irish Examiner. Cork. 14 October 2004.
  8. Eugene Moloney (September 30, 2005). "Andie wows fans but Maeve steals show". Irish Independent.
  9. "Tara's twinkling stars". The Irish Times. Oct 1, 2005.
  10. Dwyer, Michael (2005). "Maeve's rocky road to Dublin". The Irish Times.
  11. Michael Dwyer (March 10, 2006). "TARA ROAD". The Irish Times. The result is a sketchy, thoroughly conventional melodrama that squanders all the talent on both sides of the camera.
  12. Padraic McKiernan (October 9, 2005). "An unoriginal but irresistible and timeless twist on 'Oliver'". Irish Independent.
  13. Michael Dwyer (Nov 10, 2007). "The Producer". The Irish Times.
  14. https://www.amazon.com/Tara-Road-Jean-Marc-Barr/dp/B000Q677CC/
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