I am feeling quite awkward about the characters in this film, especially the girl, Roisin. All through the story, I had the impression that she was behaving in an extremely selfish way - though this may also be understandable as she felt threatened by the behaviour of the Pakistani family. But still, she never seemed to understand any viewpoint different to hers - not even the fact that her boyfriend was torn between his love to her and his family.
The film exemplified very well the different mentalities of, on the one hand, a Western city single, completely unattached, and, on the other hand, an immigrant community where the family and honour are highly valued.
I had some trouble with Roisin's relationship towards her Catholicism: we were never shown if she was faithful or just a nominal Catholic who wanted to remain so because she wanted to teach in a Catholic school. She does not seem to draw any strength from faith, but lives in a rather self-centered manner. The introduction of the sectarian fanaticism of the parish priest was interesting, because the Catholics in Britain are themselves (and were even more so in the past) a rather close-knit community, similarly to the Pakistanis and Muslims in the country.
Some reviewers here seemed not to have understood what the priest's problem was with her - it was not (so much) that she was unmarried, living with a man, but that she was, in the eyes of the Church, still married to her ex-husband, but lived with another man (thus in adultery). It seems a bit mysterious to me why she hadn't applied for annulment herself, as is suggested by the priest (sometimes also called "divorce Catholic style"). But as I have already said, we don't get to know very much about her whole relationship towards religion anyway.
The film exemplified very well the different mentalities of, on the one hand, a Western city single, completely unattached, and, on the other hand, an immigrant community where the family and honour are highly valued.
I had some trouble with Roisin's relationship towards her Catholicism: we were never shown if she was faithful or just a nominal Catholic who wanted to remain so because she wanted to teach in a Catholic school. She does not seem to draw any strength from faith, but lives in a rather self-centered manner. The introduction of the sectarian fanaticism of the parish priest was interesting, because the Catholics in Britain are themselves (and were even more so in the past) a rather close-knit community, similarly to the Pakistanis and Muslims in the country.
Some reviewers here seemed not to have understood what the priest's problem was with her - it was not (so much) that she was unmarried, living with a man, but that she was, in the eyes of the Church, still married to her ex-husband, but lived with another man (thus in adultery). It seems a bit mysterious to me why she hadn't applied for annulment herself, as is suggested by the priest (sometimes also called "divorce Catholic style"). But as I have already said, we don't get to know very much about her whole relationship towards religion anyway.