Song of the Sea (2014 film)

Conor, a lighthouse keeper, lives on an island with his son Ben, his pregnant wife Bronagh, and their Old English Sheepdog Cú at the coast of Ireland.[15] Bronagh disappears late one night, presumably dying after giving birth to a daughter named Saoirse.

Six years later, Conor is broken, Saoirse is mute, and Ben is hostile toward Saoirse, blaming her for Bronagh's disappearance. On Saoirse's birthday, they are visited by their grandmother, who regards the lighthouse as an unfit place to raise the children. That night, Ben scares Saoirse with a story of Mac Lir and his mother Macha, the Owl Witch, who stole his feelings and turned him to stone. Later, Saoirse plays a seashell horn given to Ben by their mother, leading her to a white sealskin coat in Conor's closet. She puts on the coat and walks to a group of seals in the sea, revealing herself as a selkie. After swimming, she is found by Granny on the seashore, who insists upon taking the children to her home on the Mainland. Conor reluctantly agrees despite Ben's protests, locks the coat in a chest, and throws it into the sea.

On Halloween, Saoirse plays Ben's seashell, alerting the Faeries called "Na Daoine Sídhe" to her. She and Ben attempt to go home, but encounter the Faeries, who hope she will allow them to return to the Tír na nÓg. However, they are attacked by Macha's owls, turning the Faeries to stone. The siblings flee the spot and take a country bus, and run into Cú, who had followed them. However, Saoirse is growing ill, due to not having her seal coat and being away from the ocean. They come across a holy well, which Saoirse dives into. Ben follows her and meets the Great Seanachaí: they learn Saoirse was kidnapped by Macha, and she is mute because she needs the coat and will soon die if she does not get it back. He gives Ben one of his hairs that will lead him to Macha. As he follows the hair, it shows him that Bronagh – a selkie herself – was forced to return to the ocean on the night of Saoirse's birth, leaving her husband and children behind. Since Ben found the truth, the walls of hair open, showing him a way out and to the house. The Faeries who turned to stone speak out to warn Ben to avoid the jars, tell him to be careful and brave, and wish him good luck.

Ben then meets Macha, who explains that when Mac Lir suffered from a broken heart, she turned him into an island near their home. She is determined to do likewise for everyone, even herself, to spare them pain. Ben manages to rescue Saoirse, giving Macha back her feelings and allowing her to recognize that taking away feelings doesn't help. She helps to fly them back home along with two Faerie dogs, and Conor attempts to take Saoirse to a hospital. Ben dives into the sea in search of Saoirse's coat and recovers it with the seals’ help. After Conor brings him on the boat, Saoirse's coat is put on her, and her voice surprises Ben and Conor. Saoirse's coat changes her into a little seal. Ben rides on her back and his father rides on another seal's back to Mac Lir's island. The group is then washed up on Mac Lir's island, but Saoirse's health is not fully restored. Ben tries to get Saoirse to sing, and she eventually sings the Song of the Sea. The song causes Saoirse's health to be fully restored, along with the faeries and spirits whom Macha had turned to stone, and opens the way to Tír na nÓg.

Bronagh appears to take Saoirse to Tír na nÓg with her, but Ben and Conor plead to let Saoirse stay with them, because she's all they have. Since she is half-human, the choice rests with Saoirse, who elects to remain behind with her father and brother, even though it means giving up her selkie powers and becoming fully human, if Bronagh takes Saoirse's coat to untangle their worlds. Accepting her daughter's decision, Bronagh takes her coat. Conor tells Bronagh that he loves her so much, and they kiss. Ben asks Bronagh to stay as well, but she is unable to and tells him to remember her in his stories and songs and that she'll always love him, before kissing her son's forehead. After a tearful farewell, Ben and his family happily return home to their island, where Granny finally arrives, and Conor tells her he's now well enough to take care of the children.

In a mid-credits scene, the family is shown happily painting a mural of their home, Bronagh, and the Faeries and celebrating Ben's birthday, and Ben and Saoirse, now closer than ever, go swimming with Cú and the seals in the ocean.

The original music for the film was composed by Bruno Coulais, in collaboration with the Irish group Kíla. "The Derry Tune" originally featured on Kíla's 2010 album Soisín. The film also features the voice of Lisa Hannigan and songs by Nolwenn Leroy. A soundtrack album, consisting of 25 songs from the film, was released digitally on 9 December 2014 by Decca Records.[17]

Track listing

The world premiere of Song of the Sea took place as the TIFF Kids children’s event of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival celebration on 6 September 2014.[8] Theatrically, it was released in France, Belgium and Luxembourg on 10 December 2014.[18] It received a limited release in North America on 19 December 2014, which qualified it for an Academy Award nomination.[19] It was released in Ireland on 10 July 2015.[20]

Song of the Sea was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in Region 1 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on 17 March 2015.

It was later included in the Irish Folklore Trilogy Blu-Ray box set in the US and UK/Ireland along with The Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers. GKIDS and Shout! Factory released the Region A box set in North America on December 14, 2021,[41] while StudioCanal released the Region B box set in the UK and Ireland on December 20.[42]

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• Song of the Sea at IMDb
• Song of the Sea at Box Office Mojo
• Song of the Sea at Rotten Tomatoes
• Song of the Sea at Metacritic