Directed by John-Paul Davidson and Stephen Warbeck, The Three Urns, follows Mr. O'Connor, played by Ciarán Hinds, a man returning from France to Ireland to scatter his late wife's ashes at their former home. This film celebrates Ireland in all its itinerant glory, weaving between minor characters in a way reminiscent of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, set along the beautiful shores of Donegal.
Mr. O'Connor arrives by boat and makes his odyssey along the Irish northwest coast by a succession of increasingly eccentric modes of transport - boat, milk cart, and a horse-drawn milk float. On his journey, he encounters a cast of characters who heighten the sense of whimsy throughout, including a Choctaw man with whom he has a lengthy conversation about the nature of history, a group of women in a stone circle, an old lady who constantly reappears, and a priest. Together, they enrich the story with wonder and humour, making The Three Urns, at its best, riotously life-affirming.
The allusions to Celtic heritage give the odyssey a sense of weight and purpose that elevates it beyond mere quirkiness. However, the conversations do occasionally verge on the meandering, and the episodic structure may alienate some audiences. Subplots spiral outward, including a bizarre leitmotif about Brexit and EU bureaucracy, sometimes with only superficial resolution. A French character portrayed by Olga Kurylenko, listed in the credits as the Woman in Black, is in mysterious pursuit of Mr. O'Connor. While her motives aren't entirely clear, she delivers her role with a genuine sense of abandon.
Yet the film's strongest asset is its emotional through line: a man trying to return his wife to her heritage, with grief quietly anchoring every strange encounter along the way. Ciaran Hinds is quietly ablaze, and those who surrender to its sense of absurdity will find genuine delight in what The Three Urns has to offer.
The Three Urns is in cinemas 17th April 2026.
