The Secret of Roan Inish, directed by John Sayles, is one of the 90s films that shaped who I am today. If The Secret Garden kindled my love for the magic that can be found in nature, then The Secret of Roan Inish kindled my love for the sea and Celtic folklore. Watching this enchanting film is like curling up beside the hearth on a rainy evening and listening to a tale so strange that it can only be true.
The story begins with Fiona Conneely leaving the city to visit her grandparents at the seaside. We learn that her family left Roan Inish, a small Irish island, just after WWII to pursue a more cosmopolitan life. But in the process, they gave up their ancestral lands and their freedom. It was a steep price to pay, and none of the Conneely clan seems content with their decision. Fiona’s brothers spend their days in a steam-filled laundromat; her father drinks away his sorrows at the pub; and her grandparents yearn for the peaceful isle they left behind.
Fiona’s fisherman grandfather turns out to be quite the charismatic storyteller. He regales us with several tales that leave the audience spellbound – including a distant ancestor who was rescued by a seal, and a chilling account of his grandson’s disappearance.
During a flashback sequence, we are shown the Conneelys evacuation of Roan Inish. As the men load their belongings onto a boat, the infant Jamie naps in his cradle on the beach. The tide is out and the sky is blue, so it seems perfectly safe. But then a series of supernatural events begin to unfold… thunderclouds roll in, and a flock of angry seagulls start attacking the men below. When the birds finally fly off, Fiona’s father spots Jamie’s cradle drifting out to sea. He tries to row after him, but a freak storm with lashing wind and rain makes it an impossible feat. Instead, he is forced to watch his baby son float away on the roiling waves.
Unlike the rest of her family, Fiona isn’t convinced that her little brother is dead. She learns from her teenage cousin Eamon that Jamie has been spotted “sailing the seas on his cradle boat” by local fishermen. Hoping to catch a glimpse of her brother, Fiona asks her grandfather to take her back to the isle. She doesn’t see him there, but she does find a makeshift bed on the floor of her old cottage along with small footprints in the sand. Fiona shares her findings with Eamon, but he tells her not to mention anything to their grandparents until she has proof that Jamie is still alive.
The most compelling story of the entire film is told by Fiona’s second cousin, Tadhg – a local oddball who prefers the sea to land. It is through him that we learn of their secret family heritage. Tadhg tells a curious tale of their distant ancestor Liam, who witnessed a selkie shedding her skin. He was so enchanted by Nuala that he took her sealskin coat and brought her back to Roan Inish as his bride. When they were expecting their first child, she asked him to make a cradle from the salvaged wood of a boat that had once sailed the seas.
Nuala and Liam were happy together and had many children, but she never stopped longing for her life as a seal. So when her eldest daughter told her about a “leather coat” she had found hidden in the roof, Nuala ran back to fetch it. She disappeared that day – leaving her human children and husband behind. “For once a selkie finds its skin again, neither chains of steel nor chains of love can keep her from the sea.” Though she never took the shape of a woman again, Nuala the seal watched over her family from afar.
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Tadhg also explains why he and Jamie are different from the other Conneelys. “And every so often, there’d be one born with the dark eyes and the black hair that the selkie had left in their blood. And these dark ones were most at home at sea. Great sailors and fisher-folk every one of them.” The book the film is based on – Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry by Rosalie K. Fry – further elaborates on the selkie gene (and offers some insight into why Jamie may have been taken that day)
“There was always something about those dark ones, you could tell it right from the first. ’Twas as though they belonged to the sea in some mysterious way. As soon as they learned to crawl, they’d make for the water and there they’d teach themselves to swim before they could even walk… And when they grew up, the sea cast its spell on them still. Some of them became sailors and spent their lives afloat, but most of them stayed right here in the Isles, nor did they need to look farther for a living, since those dark ones could catch more fish in a day than the rest of us catch in a week. ’Twas some strange power in them, seemingly. And so it went on all down the years. Every time one of those dark ones was born, he’d turn to the sea in the same way, and spend all his life within reach of it; ’tweren’t no manner of use to try and change him, so it’s no wonder the rest of us were uneasy when your dad made plans to take you all to the city – for you see, your little brother Jamie was a child of the Ron Mor Skerry.”
Fiona visits the island several times after this, and she encounters her brother on both occasions – once from a distance, and once at their old home – but he runs away before she can catch him. When her grandparents learn they will soon be evicted from their rental, she hatches a brilliant plan to fix up the cottages on Roan Inish. Fiona believes the seals will return Jamie if they move back to the isle. With her cousin Eamon’s help, they set to work on cleaning, repairing, and thatching the cottages.
Several weeks later, on the eve of a storm, Fiona tells her grandparents about Jamie. Her grandmother insists on their leaving right then, so they pack up a few necessities before rowing out to the island. Jamie is understandably frightened when he sees humans waiting for him on the beach. He tries to run away again, but the seals chase him across the sand – straight into his grandmother’s arms. The reunion scene is a moving one, and it’s rewarding to see the whole family settled round the fire in their cozy ancestral home 😊
At its heart, The Secret of Roan Inish is a story about heritage, kinship with animals, and working in partnership with the sea. It’s about returning home to the place we truly belong. Yes, it’s a fairy tale, but it also stirs in us a deep curiosity about our own ancestry. Who are we? Where do we come from? What kind of life will make us the happiest? These are the sorts of questions we will forever be asking ourselves.
If you haven’t yet experienced this evocative film, I hope my review entices you to check it out! And if you’re already a fan of selkie folklore, you may also enjoy The Song of the Sea, an Irish animated film directed by Tomm Moore. Please let me know if you have any selkie recommendations as well!
We watch this movie every year around St. Patrick’s Day; I absolutely love it! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review. ❤️
I love this story, for too many reasons to go into, but your insightful analysis is one of the best I have read in a very long time. I love the elemental and distinctly human variables that you tease out for us. Splendid and thank you.