It’s just a little white lie…Portia A. Buckley’s short film, Clodagh, wonders if a small fib is fine if it’s for good reason.
Mrs. Kelley (Bríd Ní Neachtain) is the housekeeper for the local priest. She also has an administrative role at the church’s school. On this particular morning, a father desparate to give his daughter, Clodagh (Katelyn Rose Downey), a proper education presents her to Mrs. Kelley. No promises, but she’ll have a look.
Mrs. Kelley puts Clodagh in front of the school’s stepdance team and Clodagh shows exceptional skill and talent to dance, but we soon find out that Clodagh lives barely in the neighboring county.
“…Clodagh shows exceptional skill and talent to dance…”
Clodagh is a tight, little short film that gets right to the point, showing us that Mrs. Kelley is a humble servant of God who plays by His rules and those of the church. Clodagh, the student, becomes a point of compromise in Kelley’s mind. Can you bend the rules knowing that only God is the only one who knows?
Yes, it is a simple story, but Portia A. Buckley leans into this story as a character study in just allowing the camera to follow Neachtain as Mrs. Kelley to establish the character of Mrs. Kelley and point out just how much of a compromise Clodagh becomes. It is beautiful storytelling and is effective.
"…Can you bend the rules knowing that only God is the only one who knows?"
