Mum of the Year Finalist Patricia Kelly
Filmmaker and Woman’s Way and Beko Mum of the Year Finalist Patricia Kelly tells us why it’s never too late to follow your dreams.
Bagging the Best Independent Film gong at the Galway Film Fleadh is no mean feat, but when it’s your first feature-length film, it’s even sweeter. Writer and director of Verdigris, Patricia Kelly may have recently turned 50, but she’s not letting a little thing like that get in the way. If anything, her career is now hitting its top gears after years of juggling motherhood and her career.
“It was a long time coming and a long-time writing,” says Patricia, who’s delighted with the response to her very personal project. Patricia started off as an actor and then juggled going back to college with the arrival of her two boys, Darragh, now 16 and Finn, now 11. “I made four short films before this,” she recalls. “I studied, I failed, I learned as I went, and it has all built up to an award-winning film.”
Her breakthrough is not only a personal high, but it’s one Patricia is keenly aware will help with female visibility in filmmaking, especially at age 50. “It’s a big turnaround to do something like this later in life and I think it’s great for women to see when their kids are in their teens or out of nappies, that they can take time for themselves. They can do things that they are passionate about, try a new career, or take some risks they weren’t able to take before.”
While she’s clearly coming into her own now, one wonders could Patricia have made this same impactful film 25 years ago? “People make great films when they are young, but I feel passionately that aging wisdom is a beautiful thing,” Patricia says. “All the life experience, the stories you hear along the way, the challenges you and your friends go through. None of it is wasted. You have an understanding of the human condition and how we struggle, and it gives you an appreciation of when things go right.”
The film was born out of Patricia’s own experience working as a census enumerator some years ago. She found herself knocking on doors and talking with people she never expected to and knew there was a kernel of a great story there. Verdigris takes the premise and places a middle-aged woman named Marion (Geraldine McAlinden) in the role of the enumerator. From a seemingly happy middle-class life, she’s in fact doing the job in secret from her coercively controlling husband. The film puts her in the path of Jewel (Maya O'Shea) , an abandoned inner-city teenager and the pair from an unlikely, but unbreakable bond.
“The film is called Verdigris because the teenager represents copper; she’s young and bright and shiny and Marion is battered by the elements, but is no less beautiful, she has changed and taken on a new form and has lots of wisdom.” With themes about the importance of female friendship, women taking stock in middle age and as well as tackling coercive control, it’s a film full of relatable strands.
Patricia talked to women who’d been through the ordeal of coercive control. “It can be so dismissed,” she says. “People will say oh your partner didn’t mean it that way, it was a joke or whatever, but you don’t really see how much someone’s self-worth is being destroyed over time.” After attending a talk from Women’s Aid many years ago, Patricia recalled something that stuck with her when writing the character of Marion. “Often people think of domestic abuse as being a working-class problem and have this idea that it doesn’t happen in the upper social classes. They told us, that is not the case,” Patricia says. “It’s just as prevalent in the so-called upper classes as it is anywhere else. Marion isn’t the typical person you’d associate with domestic abuse with bruises; she’s from the middle classes and has a good lifestyle from the outside, but is being controlled and in a very abusive situation.”
Unlike her heroine, Marion feels lucky to have had a very supportive husband Derek and wider family around her through her life. Her two boys even got involved in the film. “The film shoot coincided with my eldest Darragh’s transition year, so he was able to do some work experience on the film,” she explains. “And my youngest Finn had a tiny speaking role in the film too. They are very proud.”
Support has been key, but Marion is keen to encourage women in midlife to follow their passions regardless. “Feel the fear and do it anyway,” she laughs. “There are so many opportunities now for learning. Break everything down to starting and don’t be discouraged when things don’t go to plan- because they probably won’t,” she laughs. “But you learn from it and you accept the mistakes and you try again and you try differently and you reach out to communities online and in person. It’s much easier to find your tribe than it was years ago,” she stresses. “Be sure to utilise what’s out there.” WW
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