''December Bride'' is a film produced in

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 ...

in 1990 and released on 29 November 1991. It stars

Saskia Reeves Saskia Reeves (born 16 August 1961) is an English actress, best known for her roles in the films '' Close My Eyes'' (1991) and ''I.D.'' (1995), the 2000 miniseries ''Frank Herbert's Dune'' and the 2016 film '' Our Kind of Traitor''. Early lif ...

as the title character, with

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 4 ...

and

Ciarán Hinds Ciarán Hinds (; born 9 February 1953) is an Irish actor. Born in Belfast, Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including '' The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover'' (1989), ''Persuasion'' (19 ...

as the brothers who become her lovers in a conservative rural part of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

. It is based on the novel by Sam Hanna Bell. The film won a special jury award at the 1990

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the most ...

Plot

Sarah Gilmartin comes with her mother Martha to keep house for a widower and his two grown sons, on their farm in Ireland in 1909. After Hamilton Echlin Sr. dies in a boating accident, Sarah's mother, dismayed by his sons' and her own daughter's refusal to attend church and behave in a manner she approves of, leaves the household, but Sarah stays on as housekeeper, and eventually takes first taciturn younger brother Frank (Hinds) and then amiable elder brother Hamilton (McCann), as lovers. When she becomes pregnant and refuses to marry either man or even specify which is the father of the boy she delivers, the local minister (

Patrick Malahide Patrick Gerald Duggan (born 24 March 1945), known professionally as Patrick Malahide, is a veteran British film, television and theatre actor, author and producer, known, amongst other things, for his roles as Inspector Alleyn in ''The Inspect ...

) is deeply unsettled by her indifference to convention. She rebuffs his attempts to make her conform and give the child "a name" by declaring that all clergy want is for people's lives, however "botched inside," to appear "smooth to the eye--like lazy work." The community seems only mildly censorious of the relationship between the three, but when Frank yearns for a woman all his own and makes overtures to a local girl, her male relatives beat him savagely in retaliation, crippling him. The film then moves 18 years forward in time: Sarah's daughter Martha pleads with her to marry, as her mother's stubborn unconventionality makes it impossible for her and her brother to be completely accepted by the local community. Realizing that her daughter's happiness is at stake, Sarah relents and marries Hamilton, after which Martha marries too.

Year-end lists

* Honorable mention –

Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...

, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

Notes

External links

* 1991 films 1991 drama films Irish independent films 1990s English-language films English-language Irish films Films directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan Films scored by Jürgen Knieper Films based on Irish novels 1991 independent films {{indie-drama-film-stub