Movie · 2015 · Romance, Drama, History · 1h 51m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 8.0/10 (390.7K ratings)
Two countries, two loves, one heart
Overview
In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Eilis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.0/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.78/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Metacritic: 88
TMDB: 7.3/10
Director
John Crowley
Production
Wildgaze Films, Parallel Film Productions, BBC Film, Bun and Ham Productions, Finola Dwyer Productions, Item 7
Cast
Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters, Jessica Paré, Eve Macklin, Brid Brennan, Fiona Glascott, Jane Brennan, Nora-Jane Noone, Jenn Murray, Eva Birthistle, Michael Zegen, Matt Glynn, Maeve McGrath, Emma Lowe, Barbara Drennan, Gillian McCarthy, Eileen O'Higgins
Curator Review
Verdict
A tender, emotionally precise immigration romance with strong period detail and a quietly devastating central performance. It’s especially rewarding if you like restrained love stories, homesickness narratives, and films that build to a bittersweet choice rather than a tidy payoff.
Best for
viewers who like intimate period dramas
fans of bittersweet romance
people drawn to immigration and identity stories
audiences who prefer emotional restraint over melodrama
Saoirse Ronan admirers
Skip if
you want high-energy plotting
you dislike subdued, internal character drama
you need a clearly decisive romantic outcome
you prefer modern pacing and sharp comic relief
Overview
Brooklyn is a beautifully controlled romance about the ache of becoming someone new without fully leaving the old self behind. It treats migration not as a backdrop but as the emotional engine of the story, and that gives even the smallest choices real weight. The period design is elegant, but the film’s true strength is its patience with Eilis’s uncertainty.
Worth noting
Saoirse Ronan gives the film its heartbeat, finding a mix of reserve, vulnerability, and quiet resolve that makes the character feel lived-in rather than written. The love triangle works because it’s less about melodramatic conflict than about two different futures, each plausible in its own way. One is rooted in duty and memory; the other in possibility and reinvention.
Bottom line
The ending lands because the film understands that “home” can be a decision as much as a place. It may feel understated to viewers expecting bigger emotional swings, but that restraint is exactly what makes it linger. This is a warm, melancholy film that earns its final note.
Top Letterboxd reviews
allison (4★) · 3919 likes
no offense but if u think she picked the wrong guy u have god and also me to answer to
kyra (3.5★) · 3064 likes
tony is the human embodiment of 'when you ask her about her day and she really tells you and you enjoy it because you love her'
Lucy (3★) · 2095 likes
i feel like this is a movie that most grandmas would enjoy