Matthew Briody gazes at psychological thriller Kathleen Is Here.
Fraught relationships and a faux family cause chaos in Eva Birthistle’s exceptional feature-length debut. Kathleen Is Here, the follow-up to Birthistle’s successful short film Kathleen Was Here (2020) follows the titular Kathleen (Hazel Doupe) after she leaves foster care. Returning home in the wake of her mother’s death, Kathleen struggles to fit in. She has recently turned eighteen and finds herself aged out of the foster care system. Living in her mother’s home, Kathleen is alone. Desperately seeking a maternal figure, her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic.
After her social worker, Damian (Aaron Monaghan), tells Kathleen she has to get a job, she initially befriends shop assistant Yvonne (Liadan Dunlea). However she soon learns Yvonne’s intentions aren’t the most selfless. Learning this young woman is on her own, kind, concerned neighbour Dee (Clare Dunne) introduces herself to Kathleen. As the pair become closer, Dee’s husband, Rory (Peter Coonan), and son, Conor (James McGowan), question Kathleen’s motives. When tensions rise, Kathleen becomes desperate to hold on to the tentative friendships she’s formed.
By combining stark realism with intense thrills, the film is suspenseful, yet sombre. Focusing on Kathleen, Birthistle examines what happens when a young woman is neglected by the system.
Having already impressed on screen with her considerable acting talent, Birthistle shows great prowess behind the camera. Serving as writer and director, she shines a light on the grim reality of isolation and abandonment. In an early scene, Kathleen is home alone. Watching a video on her phone, she laughs along and replies to the people on screen, performing like she’s talking to an old friend as opposed to strangers on a screen. While many teenage girls use social media to stay connected, Kathleen uses it for the illusion of connection.
Her outsider status is solidified throughout the film. Whether it’s Kathleen peering through a car window, supermarket shelf or the glass pane of a bus station, she is always on the outside looking in. During a particularly memorable scene, Birthistle employs a tactical close-up shot of Kathleen. Leaving the camera observe, uninterrupted, Kathleen becomes the focal point. This scene is made all the more powerful by the fact that she has been so systemically marginalised and cast aside, unseen.
Burschi Wojnar’s cinematography reinforces the bleakness of Kathleen’s world. Whenever she is at home, her space is shrouded in low lights and darkness. The only light is the glow from her phone screen. By visually depicting this exterior darkness, Kathleen’s inner turmoil is spotlighted all the brighter.
Hazel Doupe was only eighteen when she first took on the role of Kathleen in the original short film. Now, at the young age of twenty two, Doupe delivers a performance even weightier and more complex. She is the anchor holding the film together. Her multi-layered portrayal captures the rage and vulnerability of a woman forced to the fringes of society. Doupe’s first on-screen appearance was in the 2010 TV series Jack Taylor when she was eight years old, it’s evident from this film, she has been honing her craft since then.
Doupe’s ability to effortlessly move from primal rage to heartbreaking raw emotion is unrivaled. She has already won a Discovery Award for her role in the original short film and been nominated for an IFTA award for her role in Kate Dolan’s horror film You Are Not My Mother (2021). The accolades continue for this film, as Eva Birthistle won the Bingham Ray New Talent at the Galway Film Fleadh this year and a nomination for Best International Feature at the 2024 Raindance Film Festival.
Thanks to its committed performances and taut tension throughout, Kathleen Is Here delivers a steadfast and riveting ride. With an engrossing plot and perfect pacing, this film is nothing short of impressive.
Kathleen Is Here is in cinemas 18th November 2024.
