Sin, sexual abuse, erotic salvation... Director Maeve Murphy’s thick stew is worthy but heavy like a sledgehammer.
Her first feature since 2001’s women-in-prison drama, Silent Grace, Fire focuses on Irish ex-priest/ex-con Sheamy (Scot Williams), who moves to hipster locales in London to find one Father Brendan and falls for a rape survivor, Katie (Cara Seymour).
Love blossoms but Sheamy’s old demons scuppers its progress. Meanwhile, Murphy scuppers serious intent with studied solemnity, ham-fisted
direction, stilted performances and over-writing.
Do ex-priests say “Your soul is blackened with bitterness” during lovers’ tiffs? You respect the sincerity but this melodrama rings false.
