In Finnish director Klaus Härö’s English debut, a man’s past and future collide with the arrival of a new housekeeper. Exploring redeeming love and a drought father-daughter relationship, the emotional tones of My Sailor, My Love feel like two separate movies, despite strong performances from leads James Cosmo, Brid Brennan, and Catherine Walker.
The film opens with various women explaining their stories of abuse in a group therapy session. When we finally get to who turns out to be Grace (Catherine Walker), she is unable to tell us more than her name. The next scene cuts to a sweeping shot of the Irish coastline before we are introduced to the source of Grace’s grievances, her father, Howard (James Cosmo).
A surly and cantankerous widower, Howard purposely antagonizes his daughter, leaving his house a mess, giving her short curt answers, and washing his filthy clothes in the kitchen sink. It’s clear early on, that this is taking a toll on Grace. Exasperated and short with her husband, all her time and energy is spent minding her aging father.
When she hires Anne (Brid Brennan) as a housekeeper, her life continues to deteriorate as her focus is still on Howard. Despite a rocky meeting, Howard and Anne begin to grow closer. Director Härö cuts between these two storylines, spending much more time and effort on the at-times trite love story.
Of the two, Grace’s journey is much more interesting. She is unable to healthily separate from her dad and still wants to please him. Actress Catherine Walker shows this through her physicality and her breathing. It’s clear that abuse and a toxic father/daughter relationship linger under the surface for her. But Härö does little to explore her story the way it needs to be told. The fallout of her choices at the expense of her job and personal life seems forgotten in parts. The storylines feel separate instead of flowing into one another.
My Sailor, My Love doesn’t go far enough in answering whether or not Howard deserves redeeming love, especially in relation to his daughter. Though Brennan and Cosmo have a sweet, quiet chemistry, its not enough to save the script from melodrama, something amplified by the barren cliffscape and Irish sea.
My Sailor, My Love is playing in theaters. Watch the trailer below.
