SPOILERS AHEAD (obviously)…
Having swept up the Oscar for “Best Live Action Short Film” as well as “Best British Short Film” at the BAFTA Awards, An Irish Goodbye, directed by Tom Berkeley and Ross White,is a heartwarming comedic drama about two estranged brothers that find themselves reunited upon the untimely passing of their mother. When they discover a bucket list that their mother had created, they take it upon themselves to accomplish every item, taking her urn along for the ride so that she is checking off every box too. Through this, the brothers rekindle their friendship and help each other through the difficulties they’re both experiencing.
Prominent themes in this short film include loss, grief, family, and reconciliation. An Irish Goodbye holds several meanings and messages, some more apparent than others, but all equally as important to the central narrative. Symbols laid strategically throughout the film set the tone for this darkly comedic and ultimately heartwarming story.
Out on the Farm
The farm plays an important role in the film. It is made apparent that the men’s mother lived on a farm, and it is heavily implied that Turlough and Lorcan grew up there. Lorcan is very attached to the farm whereas Turlough left before his mother passed to live in the city instead, a central point of conflict between the two. Beyond this, the farm holds some more subtle symbolism as well, shown in the first few moments of the film.
During the very first scene, Turlough, Lorcan, and Father O’Shea are driving on a road that weaves through a patch of farmland. The shot focuses for a moment on a barbed wire fence with a bit of sheep’s wool caught in it, and then on a herd of sheep. Sheep are a common symbol for innocence. They are often associated with the idea of children counting sheep before bed to fall asleep. The sheep’s wool, being the innocence, is caught in barbed wire, shredding it to bits. This is representative of grief, as it shreds a sense of innocence within an individual. This is what Turlough and Lorcan both feel but express very differently.
The shot then focuses on a seemingly dead rabbit lying in the road, the car approaching in the distance. The car gets close, stops, honks its horn loudly, then proceeds to drive slowly around the rabbit, as the three rubberneck to get a closer look at the animal. While, on the surface, this is simply a darkly comedic moment, the rabbit holds symbolic importance to the narrative. Rabbits commonly represent renewal and new beginnings. In the context of the film, the rabbit represents reconciliation and the restoration of brotherhood between Turlough and Lorcan, foreshadowing the events to come.
Personified Feelings
The three characters shown in this film cope with grief in entirely different ways from each other. Turlough is hyper-focused on simply moving on. Rather than allowing himself to be emotional and process this devastating loss, his plan seems to be to sell the farm, move back to England, and pretend the whole ordeal never happened at all. Lorcan is quite the opposite, as he is desperate to hold onto all aspects of their mother. He wants to keep the farm and continue to live there, leaving things as they were before her passing. Father O’Shea sees events such as this one frequently, and he also shares with Turlough a personal experience in which he lost his aunt. He copes with dark and inappropriate humor, which lightens the tone of the film but also expresses the awkwardness of loss. He tries to console the brothers in an uplifting way but it never sounds the way he intended, leading to many apologies on his behalf.
These characters represent just a few of the many ways individuals deal with grief and loss. One may be more of a Lorcan archetype while another may resemble Turlough, and another may encompass elements of all three characters. There is no “correct” formula to process grief and it is never linear, which the film also shows. When Turlough and Lorcan begin bonding again, it takes a turn when Lorcan overhears Turlough talking about selling the farm, an idea in which Lorcan has expressed his resentment for several times. He then attempts to allow his mother to “skydive,” another item on the list. A failed attempt results in a broken urn and the climax of grief in the film. This is a major setback for the brothers, but, as seen by the end of the film, good days are ahead as well, showing the ups and downs of the grieving process.
The List(s)
Father O’Shea first introduces the list of activities the brothers’ mother wanted to try before her passing after he drives them back to the farm, presumably after the funeral. Lorcan asks for the list but Father O’Shea cracks a dark joke about sprinkling their mother’s ashes over mashed potatoes and getting them stuck between their teeth (talk about a cold sweat moment). The joke distracts Lorcan and the film’s audience from this moment, but Lorcan never actually received the list.
The next day, Turlough finds Lorcan practicing Tai Chi holding their mother’s urn. He explains that Father O’Shea gave him the list and he must now complete every item. This leads to the brothers engaging in many new activities and finding creative ways for their mother to join them. It seems that the list’s purpose for the brothers, and especially for Lorcan, is to act as a tool for them to process their grief. When they complete the list’s ninety ninth item and their mother’s urn breaks, the two have a heated argument resulting in Turlough deciding that Lorcan should leave the house the next day to live with their aunt, which was Turlough’s original plan despite Lorcan’s wishes to stay on the farm.
When Father O’Shea arrives to pick up Lorcan, he spots a painting of Turlough and his mother’s urn, created by Lorcan to fulfill one of the items on the list. Turlough explains Lorcan’s mission to fulfill their mother’s list, which is when Father O’Shea reveals that he never provided him with the list at all. Lorcan made his own list and set out to complete it with his brother. This causes Turlough to warm back up to Lorcan and complete the final item on the list, which is sending their mother into outer space. They do this through fireworks, another big symbol in the film. Fireworks represent celebration, and, in the film’s context, they represent a celebration of life. At the start of the film, the brothers are quiet and sorrowful driving home from the funeral. The film’s ending holds a great departure from this, as the fireworks explode and the brothers rejoice in the company of each other as well as the memory of their mother. The juxtaposition between the two exemplifies both their journey of processing their grief as well as that of rekindling their friendship.
After the fireworks, during the film’s final scene, Lorcan adds one more item to the list. Although a voiceover of the mother reads the item aloud, just as it has for all of the other list items, this addition is clearly written in Lorcan’s tone. He wishes for the two of them to become friends again and reside on the farm together. The purpose of Lorcan’s list on the surface was for the brothers to process the loss of their mother. On a deeper level, however, the list was created as part of Lorcan’s plan to restore his relationship with his estranged brother. Although these characters suffered a major loss, they also gained a new relationship due to the reconciliation of their brotherhood.
