The Dead

Name: The Dead
Genre: Drama
Released: 1987-12-18
Duration: 1 h 23 min
Rating: 7.2
Cast: Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, Helena Carroll

1987
PG
1h 23m

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

9.2K

YOUR RATING

Anjelica Huston and Donal McCann in The Dead (1987)

Gabriel Conroy and wife Greta attend an early January dinner with friends at the home of his spinster aunts, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them.

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Period Drama Drama

Gabriel Conroy and wife Gretta attend an early January dinner with friends at the home of his spinster aunts, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them.Gabriel Conroy and wife Gretta attend an early January dinner with friends at the home of his spinster aunts, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them.Gabriel Conroy and wife Gretta attend an early January dinner with friends at the home of his spinster aunts, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

9.2K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 10 wins & 18 nominations total

Trivia
The final shot is not of Ireland, but of snow falling in Joshua Tree National Park, California.

Goofs
Molly says she is off to a union meeting in Liberty Hall to hear James Connolly speak. The movie is set on January 6, 1904. However, James Connolly had emigrated to the USA in 1903, where he arrived on September 18, 1903. He did not return to Ireland before 1910. He arrived in Derry on July 26, 1910.

Quotes
[last lines]
Gabriel Conroy: [voice over] One by one, we're all becoming shades. Better to pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age. How long you locked away in your heart the image of your lover's eyes when he told you that he did not wish to live. I've never felt that way myself towards any woman, but I know that such a feeling must be love. Think of all those who ever were, back to the start of time. And me, transient as they, flickering out as well into their grey world. Like everything around me, this solid world itself which they reared and lived in, is dwindling and dissolving. Snow is falling. Falling in that lonely churchyard where Michael Furey lies buried. Falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living, and the dead.

Alternate versions
Ten minutes of the film have been omitted from the 2009 DVD release.

Connections
Featured in John Huston and the Dubliners (1987)

Soundtracks
The Lass of Aughrim
Traditional Irish ballad
Sung by Frank Patterson

User reviews73

Review

Featured review

9/10

A small, almost perfect, gem

So many literary adaptations are disappointments. There are many reasons for that, but usually it is the need to cut down a complex novel to the size of a screenplay. The Dead is unusual - it had to be 'padded', as the short story itself is a tiny, relatively short gem. It may in fact be the finest short story in the English language. In beautifully spare language it tells of the realization of Gabriel Conroy that his life, and the lives of so many around him are controlled by memories of the dead. Even his own wife of many years loved a man now dead more than him.

To bring such a short story to the cinema was always going to be tricky. John Huston did a magnificent job. He never gave in to temptation to play it up or use fancy technique to expand on the story. It is simple and true, with outstanding acting. The only slight miss-step is the use of music to accompany the devastating final soliloquy.

Its rare indeed for a movie version of a literary masterpiece to be itself a masterpiece, but I think its fair to use this term for this movie. Its not a bravura piece of film making, but it is simple and pure - I always think of Ozu's movies when i think of The Dead, its at that level of purity and simplicity and deep wisdom.