''The Miracle'' is a 1991

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

Neil Jordan Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish film director, screenwriter, novelist and short-story writer. His first book, '' Night in Tunisia'', won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1979. He won an Academy ...

. It stars

Beverly D'Angelo Beverly Heather D'Angelo (born November 15, 1951) is an American actress who starred as Ellen Griswold in the ''National Lampoon's Vacation'' films (1983–2015). She has appeared in over 60 films and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for h ...

Donal McCann Donal McCann (7 May 1943 – 17 July 1999) was an Irish stage, film, and television actor best known for his roles in the works of Brian Friel and for his lead role in John Huston's last film, '' The Dead''. In 2020, he was listed as number ...

, and Niall Byrne. It was entered into the 41st Berlin International Film Festival.

Plot

Two teenage friends, Jimmy (Niall Byrne) and Rose (Lorraine Pilkington) live in the small seaside town of Bray,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. They spend their days wandering the streets and piers. To kill time, Rose and Jimmy make up stories about strangers on the street. One day, while watching people at the train station, a stylish older woman, Renee Baker (Beverly D'Angelo), stands out so imposingly from the dull townsfolk that Jimmy and Rose decide to follow her, infatuated with knowing everything about her. They pursue her to the beach and at last Renee speaks to them. When she looks at Jimmy, he's at once infatuated with this mystifying woman. Rose, who has feelings for Jimmy herself, decides to make him jealous by sleeping with a young lion tamer from a travelling circus (although she claims her real motivation was to set the animals free). Renee is eventually revealed to be Jimmy's mother, whom his father, Sam, had claimed was dead.

Cast

as Renee Baker *

as Sam * Niall Byrne as Jimmy *

Lorraine Pilkington Lorraine Pilkington (born 18 April 1974) is an Irish actress from Dublin who is best known for her role as Katrina Finlay from '' Monarch of the Glen''. Life Born in Dublin, Pilkington grew up in the affluent suburban village of Malahide, and ...

as Rose * J. G. Devlin as Mr. Beausang *

Cathleen Delany Cathleen Delany (21 July 1907 – 19 June 1997) was an Irish actress of stage and screen. Life Born Kathleen Mary Delany to journalist Alfred Delany and his wife, Kathleen Mary Kilgannon of 98 Marlboro Rd. in Dublin. She was professionally kno ...

as Miss Strange * Tom Hickey as Tommy *

Shane Connaughton Shane Connaughton (born 4 April 1941 in Kingscourt, County CavanHogan, Sinead.Shane Connaughton brings it all home to his beloved native county ''The Anglo-Celt''. 4-29-2009.) is an Irish writer and actor, probably best known as co-writer of ...

as Rose's Father *

Mikkel Gaup Mikkel Mathis Gaup (born 16 January 1968) is a Sámi Norwegian film and stage actor. He is best known for his acting debut in the film '' Pathfinder'', directed by his uncle Nils Gaup, and he has also appeared in a number of other productions, inc ...

as Jonner

Reception

Critical reception

The film got mixed reviews upon its release in 1991. Critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

gave the film a two star rating out of four saying, "Strange, how a movie of such delicate romantic sensibilities could go astray because of a heavy-handed plot." On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has a 63% rating , based on reviews from 8 critics.

Box office

''The Miracle'' was released on 3 July 1991 in the United States and made $12,076 in its opening weekend. The film made a mere $835,519 all together when it ended its run on 10 October 1991 with its widest release being in 41 theatres.

Availability

After the film's theatrical run, the film was released on videocassette in January 1992 by Live Home Video and around the same time in Canada by Cineplex Odeon and MCA.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miracle 1991 films 1991 drama films Irish drama films English-language Irish films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Neil Jordan Incest in film British drama films Films scored by Anne Dudley 1990s British films