Four Letters Of Love (12A)
Cast: Fionn O'Shea, Helena Bonham Carter, Gabriel Byrne, Imelda May, Donal Finn, Ann Skelly, Pierce BrosnanGenre: Romance
Author(s): Niall Williams
Director: Polly Steele
Release Date: 18/07/2025 (selected cinemas)
Running Time: 110mins
Country: UK/Ire
Year: 2024
In 1971 Dublin, hard-working civil servant William Coughlan quits his job and announces his calling as a painter to his incredulous wife Bette and 17-year-old son Nicholas. Meanwhile, island schoolmaster and poet Muiris Gore and his wife Margaret are devastated when their son Sean suffers a fit during a walk with younger sister Isabel. He is rendered mute and immobile and Isabel reluctantly heads to the mainland to further her education.
LondonNet Film Review
Four Letters Of Love (12A) Film Review from LondonNet
Hopeless romantics prepare to swoon at director Polly Steele’s unabashedly wistful tale of cosmically connected soulmates, filmed on location in Co Antrim and Co Donegal with ravishing, picture postcard cinematography courtesy of Damien Elliott. Adapted for the screen by author Niall Williams from his international bestseller, Four Letters Of Love clings to its literary origins like a life vest, with lyrical dialogue that sounds more convincing tumbling from characters’ lips on the page…
Unexpected snowfall is poetically described as “an immense sky letter… falling silent and slow”, and a resourceful wife pithily explains one difference between the sexes: “A woman has intuition. It’s in a place where a man has stubbornness.” Parallel 1970s narratives ebb and flow between wild, untamed island locales and comparatively stifling suburbia. The disparity between these two situations is bluntly hammered home when an islander dreamily remarks that visitors to her paradise never truly leave once they have sampled the community’s simpler way of life.
Williams’s screenplay demands considerable generosity to chug down various contrivances, on-screen miracles and well-timed ghostly interventions with freshly poured pints of Irish whimsy. Gabriel Byrne and Helena Bonham Carter are appealingly matched as a happily married couple who want the best for their children, even if that means admitting their offspring might have said “I do” to the wrong person.
In 1971 Dublin, hard-working civil servant William Coughlan (Pierce Brosnan) experiences a heavenly vision at his desk, quits his job and announces his calling as a painter to his incredulous wife Bette (Imelda May) and 17-year-old son Nicholas (Fionn O’Shea). The patriarch leaves home for extended periods to capture the windswept beauty of the west of Ireland.
Meanwhile, island schoolmaster and poet Muiris Gore (Byrne) and his wife Margaret (Bonham Carter) are devastated when their son Sean (Donal Finn) suffers a fit during a walk with younger sister Isabel (Ann Skelly). He is rendered mute and immobile and Isabel reluctantly heads to the mainland to further her education under the withering glare of Mother Superior (Norma Sheahan). Charming local lad Peader (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) helps Isabel to escape her crippling guilt about Sean’s paralysis and she contemplates a long-term commitment to match the “hard labour” of her parents’ 36-year marriage.
Four Letters Of Love is the cinematic equivalent of a hand-knitted sweater: cosy, comfortable and patiently crafted with heartfelt sincerity. Williams’s script relies heavily on an intrusive voiceover to convey Nicholas’s inner thoughts as the young man surveys the emotional divide to his father (“There was love but no language between us”) and accepts the hand that the universe ultimately deals him. Cold-hearted cynicism will comfortably weather the gentle storm that director Steele conjures on screen.
– Kim Hu
Popular on LondonNet
London Cinemas Showing Four Letters Of Love
From: Friday 11th July
To: Thursday 17th July
No cinema infomation at the moment
From: Friday 18th July
To: Thursday 24th July
Fri 12:10; Sat 11:40; Sun 17:00; Mon 16:45; Tue 14:15; Wed 16:50; Thu 20:45
Fri 12:55 15:05 17:05; Sat 10:25 12:25 14:35 17:30; Sun 12:20 15:00; Mon 10:30 12:45 15:40 18:15; Tue 10:30 12:35 15:00 17:15; Wed 12:05 14:05 16:05 18:25; Thu 09:40 12:55 15:10 18:10
Fri 09:00 11:25 13:40 16:20 00:00; Sat 12:25 16:00; Sun 18:00; Mon 09:30 13:15 20:45; Tue 11:40 20:45; Wed 17:20; Thu 12:50 19:10 21:50
Fri 09:30 16:10; Sat 18:45; Sun 10:00 16:55; Mon 09:15 16:15; Tue 09:50 17:00; Wed 09:15 12:10 16:45; Thu 09:20 11:50 20:25
UK and Irish Cinemas Showing Four Letters Of Love
From: Friday 11th July
To: Thursday 17th July
No cinema infomation at the moment
From: Friday 18th July
To: Thursday 24th July
Fri 12:30 17:15; Sat 12:00; Sun 17:45; Mon 15:25 18:00; Tue 13:00; Wed 13:45; Thu 14:45
Fri 10:30 17:50; Sat 15:20; Sun 13:30; Mon/Wed 15:10; Tue 14:50; Thu 13:20 17:30
Fri/Tue 14:45; Sat 12:30; Sun 17:30; Mon 16:15; Wed 11:00 17:15; Thu 17:40
Fri/Sat 18:00; Sun 17:40; Mon 17:50; Tue 17:45; Wed 14:15; Thu 11:50
Fri 17:30; Sat 17:50; Sun/Wed 17:25; Tue 17:45; Thu 15:15
Little Theatre Cinema Picturehouse
Fri 18:20; Sat 16:25; Sun 19:50; Mon/Wed 11:00 (Wed) 15:40; Tue 10:30 16:20; Thu 12:45 16:00
Fri-Sun 17:40; Mon/Tue 19:40; Wed 17:20; Thu 14:20
Fri-Wed 19:10; Thu 19:40
Fri-Sun/Thu 19:40; Mon-Wed 19:10
Fri-Wed 19:00; Thu 17:45
Fri-Wed 19:00; Thu 17:45
Fri 17:15; Sat/Sun 19:45; Mon 15:30; Tue 17:45; Wed 14:15; Thu 20:15
Fri 12:15 19:45; Sat 14:45 17:15; Sun 12:00 19:00; Mon 15:10 17:40; Tue 12:00 17:45; Wed 12:00 20:00; Thu 12:15 17:15
Mon 16:50; Tue 17:05; Wed 09:00 16:45; Thu 09:10 18:30
Fri 09:00 12:30; Sat 12:35; Sun 12:05; Mon 15:25; Tue 09:45 12:00; Wed 10:35 16:05; Thu 11:55 16:35
Fri 17:25; Sat 15:05; Sun 17:15; Mon 19:15; Tue 16:30; Wed 12:45; Thu 15:20
Fri 15:45; Sat 12:50; Sun 16:50; Mon 10:10 13:00 15:05 17:15; Tue 17:05; Wed 09:30 17:25; Thu 10:00 16:45
Fri 10:45 14:45 17:25; Sat 17:05; Sun/Wed 09:15 (Wed) 17:00; Mon 10:30 12:30 14:35 17:20; Tue 09:15 11:15 13:15 15:25 17:35; Thu 09:30 12:30 16:30
Fri 11:05 13:30 16:30; Sat 15:10 17:10; Sun 19:40; Mon 10:25 13:50 17:45; Tue 10:20 11:50 18:05; Wed 09:40 13:30 18:25; Thu 09:55 12:05 18:25
Fri 10:20 12:35; Sat 09:00 11:20 13:25 17:00; Sun 10:15 12:30 17:05; Mon 09:50 12:45 16:45 18:50; Tue 11:30 13:30 16:00; Wed 11:15 13:30 17:15; Thu 10:20 13:25 15:50
Fri 18:45; Sat 11:00; Sun 12:15; Mon 15:05; Tue 12:30; Wed 12:00 14:30
Fri 16:40; Sat 15:10; Sun 15:50; Mon 17:55; Tue 18:05; Wed 15:25; Thu 16:20
Fri 10:50 14:35 16:55; Sat 12:35 18:15; Sun 16:20; Mon 11:30 13:50 16:30; Tue 10:50 12:55 16:00; Wed 12:45 16:35
Fri 10:00 12:05 15:55; Sat 08:15 10:50 17:00; Sun 17:00; Mon 11:55 15:00 17:00 22:45; Tue 08:35 11:00 17:00; Wed 08:40 11:10 16:00; Thu 09:15 11:45 18:10
Fri 10:15 17:20; Sat 17:30; Sun 17:00; Mon 10:50 14:30 17:15; Tue 09:00 11:00 13:20 17:30; Wed 09:00 12:10 13:45 15:45 18:15; Thu 10:30 16:30
Fri/Mon 09:05 (Mon) 17:00; Sun 20:45; Tue 09:35 12:55; Wed 09:55 16:25
Fri 16:55; Sat 17:00; Sun 16:25; Mon 18:05; Tue 11:50 17:35; Wed 16:50; Thu 10:25 16:40
Fri 13:00 15:25 17:40 23:45; Sat 11:10 13:35 15:35; Sun 10:05 12:55 17:55; Mon 11:20 13:15 16:35; Tue 11:15 13:25 15:35 18:30; Wed 10:05 12:05 16:05 18:15; Thu 10:30 13:40 16:10
Fri 12:30 15:30 17:20; Sat 09:20 12:50 17:00; Sun 10:00 13:30 16:25; Mon 10:00 12:40 14:35 17:25 19:35; Tue 09:00 11:35 14:15 16:30 17:05 19:10; Wed 09:40 12:05 14:30 17:20 18:35; Thu 09:55 13:30 16:55
Fri 10:50 12:50 16:45; Sat 12:25; Sun/Tue 12:15; Mon 09:20 14:35; Wed 16:00; Thu 12:45
