Beyond The Fire - Maeve Murphy interview
Interview by Rob Carnevale
BEYOND The Fire traces the difficult relationship between a rape victim and a man who was sexually abused by a priest in his childhood. It won the Best Film (UK Feature) at this year’s London Independent Film Festival. Writer-director Maeve Murphy talks to us about some of the issues it tackles…
Q. Beyond The Fire tackles some difficult issues for a love story…
Maeve Murphy: I guess they are… you forget after a while because this is essentially a love story about a woman in London who meets up with guy who has just come to town. But she’s a survivor of rape and he appears to be the archetypal good man. Then we throw in the big twist where he reveals his own experiences at the hands of a priest and frame it in a way that he’s in denial about it. When she challenges him, their relationship falls apart at first but then gets strong because there’s a shared understanding and a shared empathy between them.
Q. Where did the origins of the story come from?
Maeve Murphy: I actually spent time talking to Colm O’Gorman, who was a victim of clerical sexual abuse by Father Seán Fortune, a notorious paedophile priest. Colm was in fact one of the first people to take action against Fr Fortune. But he told me that he suffered from that classic textbook thing where survivors blame themselves because it’s someone they know, look up to and revere. He said that it was only when he reached his late 20s that he acknowledged the truth of what happened and he did go kind of crazy at first. So, his story inspired me. But I wanted to write and direct a love story and I also knew a survivor of rape who was in a relationship with another survivor, and I thought that was interesting. That kind of thing hadn’t been seen in cinema before. In films like Requiem For A Dream you see two junkies, and you’ve seen two alcoholics before, but you’ve never seen this level of emotional vulnerability before.
Q. It’s refreshing to find a film that tackles rape in a sensitive way, too, rather than using it in the rape-revenge type of scenario where the victim them goes out and gains payback in ever more hideous ways, and which de-sensitises audiences to the actual atrocity and repercussions of rape itself…
Maeve Murphy: Thank you. I agree, some films do use rape as a dramatic narrative and they’ve got none of the substance of the reality of rape. It’s almost being used glibly. There’s no feeling of the consequences for the victim. We wanted to do it in a more expressionistic way. You don’t actually see the rapist in this but people don’t realise that. But just to feel it, that’s enough, and to somehow get a sense of it cinematically. I also wanted Katie (Cara Seymour) to be a strong survivor. She’s battling with her own demons – she’s had justice, but she’s battling with her own ability to move on. Yet we see her bravely getting her sex life up and going again and things like that.
Q. Are you expecting to hear some strong reactions from people who don’t necessarily agree with the forgiveness aspect of Sheamy’s journey?
Maeve Murphy: Well, I think that was right for his personal journey. If he is to move on, if he has any chance to do so, that’s his way. But I don’t think everybody has to forgive. Katie doesn’t forgive her attacker, she just dumps the shirt and says: “I’m moving forward.” The overall message was about moving forward from something like this. And the end is left fairly ambiguous with regards to Sheamy’s actions.
There’s the stats about prosecutions in the church. I think there may be some reaction because the priest is not actually arrested, but in a way that’s kind of what’s happening at the moment anyway. There’s been no arrests made so far in the cases that have come to light. We’ll probably soon be dealing with the awful sight of priests being taken away in handcuffs. But in Father Brendon’s case [in the film], I hope you feel that even though Sheamy hasn’t taken that kind of action, someone else will… that it’s only a matter of time. I think there’s a sense of that in Brendon’s expression.
Q. Winning the Best Film (UK Feature) at this year’s London Independent Film Festival must have been a really nice surprise and a lovely boost for the film?
Maeve Murphy: It was fantastic and I really didn’t expect it. I was really thrilled just to be nominated, so it was a beautiful surprise. I can honestly say it was one of the nicest moments of my life so far. But it just felt so right because London has really supported and nurtured this film. It was the right platform for it. We shot it here, in and around the streets of Shoreditch, so it was a nice reward.
Q. Can you tell us a little about your next film, The Riot Act?
Maeve Murphy: Yes, I’m basically still working on that and talking to producers. I love Beyond The Fire and its soulfulness but I want to do something slightly lighter for my next one. So, it’s a Bonnie seeking a Clyde type of thing. It’s about a group of shop assistants who are about to me made redundant, so they make a plan to rob the shop… but none of them are robbers. It’s going to be fun and I’m percolating some ideas for it at the moment.
Beyond The Fire is to receive a special screening at the Roxy cinema in London on June 22, followed by a Q&A with the writer-director and people associated with it. To find out more, please visit the Roxy website
Read our review of Beyond The Fire