Fools of Fortune

1990 film by Pat O'Connor

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Iain Glen
Julie Christie

CinematographyJerzy ZielinskiEdited byMichael BradsellMusic byHans Zimmer

Production
companies

Channel Four Films
PolyGram
Working Title Films

Distributed byPalace Pictures

Release date

22 June 1990 (1990-06-22)

Running time

109 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishBudget£2.5 millionBox officeUSD$83,490^[1]

Fools of Fortune is a 1990 Irish romantic drama film directed by Pat O'Connor and written by Michael Hirst based on the 1983 novel by Irish writer William Trevor. It depicts a Protestant family caught up in the conflict between the British Army and the IRA during the Irish War of Independence.^[2]

Cast

Iain Glen as Willie Quinton
- Sean T. McClory as young Willie
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Marianne
Julie Christie as Mrs. Quinton
Catherine McFadden as Imelda
Amy-Joyce Hastings (credited as Amy Hastings) as Geraldine Quinton
Michael Kitchen as Mr. Quinton
Hazel Flanagan as Deirdre Quinton
Frankie McCafferty as Tim Paddy
Niamh Cusack as Josephine
John Kavanagh as Johnny Lacy

Production

It was filmed on location in Dublin, County Westmeath, Galway and at Ardmore Studios.

Release

The film went to VHS and Laserdisc, but has not yet appeared on DVD.

New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby described the film as "an ambitious mess, of interest only because of the chance to see [Julie] Christie, who becomes more and more tautly beautiful with the years, and [Mary Elizabeth] Mastrantonio, who is also beautiful and does an extremely credible upper-class English accent."^[3] The Washington Post described it as "a passionate, mystifyingly awkward bit of filmmaking".^[3]

References

^ "Fools of Fortune (1990)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com.
^ BFI.org
^ ^a ^b Hinson, Hal (27 October 1990). "'Fools of Fortune'". The Washington Post.