This Is My Father is a 1998 film directed by Paul Quinn.
Plot
The film portrays a tragic love story set in late 1930s Ireland, focusing on the relationship between Fiona Flynn (Moya Farrelly), a beautiful, feisty seventeen-year-old from a middle-class family, and Kieran O'Dea (Aidan Quinn), a shy labourer in his early thirties, and the search decades later by their son, Kieran Johnson, (James Caan) to find his roots in late 1990s Ireland.
The film is told as an interweaving of the nineties setting, where Kieran is hearing the story of his parents, and the events of the 1930s. Kieran Johnson grew into adulthood unaware of his parents' story or of the tragic events that caused his mother to leave Ireland on her own while pregnant.
The story highlights the issues of prejudice, classism, alcoholism and social and religious conservatism in rural 1930s Ireland.
Cast
Main cast
Aidan Quinn as Kieran O'Dea
James Caan as Kieran Johnson
Moya Farrelly as Fiona Flynn
Jacob Tierney as Jack
Gina Moxley as Widow Flynn
Supporting Cast
Colm Meaney as Seamus (Bed and Breakfast Owner) Moira Deady as Mrs. Kearney John Cusack as Eddie Sharp (Pilot) Brendan Gleeson as Garda Jim Pat Shortt as Garda Ben Maria McDermottroe as Mrs. Maney Donal Donnelly as John Maney Eamon Morrissey as Father Mooney Stephen Rea as Mission Priest John Kavanagh as Liam Finneran Karen Ardiff as Young Mrs. Kearney Sheila Flitton as Mrs. Madigan Pauline Hutton as Maria Fiona Glascott as Nuala
Reception
Roger Ebert given the film 3 out of 4 stars and compared it to his own visit to Ireland in 1967.