Dearbhla Molloy

John Patrick Shanley’s Wild Mountain Thyme might have worked better as a play, especially in the intimate, yet opaque dialogues, but as the plot unscrolls, it works as a story, a classic Irish tale of love and land. As a film, it holds Ireland in the camera’s eye.

When the trailer for Wild Mountain Thyme first landed, Irish folk grabbed their verbal shalaylees and cried foul over what they condemned as dodgy Emerald Isle accents and corny “Erin Go Bragh” clichés. Having now seen the film myself, those impressions aren’t totally wrong.