Eden

A picture so modest and minor-key that the emotional bruise it leaves may take days to develop.

A compelling Irish drama.

Well crafted and acted, Declan Recks' Irish domestic drama Eden, adapted from his own play by Eugene O'Brien, offers an intimate portrait of a husband and wife who have stopped communicating with each other.

Director Declan Recks underlines every emotion, every brooding pause, working against the spare dialogue with fancy-footwork camera moves and an insistent score.

This domestic drama from the producers of "Once" could be about the pair from that gentle romance - a decade later.

Although its low-key realism is admirable, Eden doesn't really work: the long silences, the aching stares, the telling props, Breda's quivering blues, Billy's drunkenness, his distraction. There might as well be a sign stuck to the Farrells' front door: Dysfunctional family lives here.

An Irish indie that is well-observed and well-acted - but ultimately, not much more exciting than the love lives of its lead characters.