A 2012 film directed by Lenny Abrahamson and starring Jack Reynor, loosely adapted from the Kevin Power novel Bad Day in Blackrock.
Richard Karlsen, an upper-class teenager in post-Celtic Tiger Dublin, travels to his family's holiday home with a group of friends during the last summer break before going to college. There he meets Lara, a girl dating his sporting rival Connor Harris, and is immediately infatuated with her. Their relationship develops over the course of the summer, but Richard's motivations begin to look questionable – he seems more concerned with showing her off for his parents' approval and using her as a sounding-board for his own ambitions than he is interested in her. Things eventually come to a head in a violent altercation between Richard and Connor, with the latter dying of his injuries.
While most movies would have this take place at the climax, What Richard Did moves the confrontation to the midpoint. The rest of the movie focuses on the impact this event has on Richard's life and the reaction of the privileged community around him, as Richard struggles to regain some understanding of who he is after committing an act he can't come to terms with.
The original novel was based on a killing that occurred under similar circumstances outside a nightclub in Dublin in 2000, which became a media frenzy when it was perceived that the upper class of Dublin closed ranks to prevent the youths responsible from being brought to justice. The movie eschews the moralising attitude taken by the media of the time and the sharp social critique of the novel (though still has elements of the latter), instead giving an intimate portrait of Richard, what drives him to the event and how he responds to it.
What Richard Troped:
- The Ace/Broken Ace: Richard is looked up to by his peers, especially the teens younger than him, and is lauded by the adults around him. But this also means that he feels it's his responsibility to uphold all the values of the privileged social class he belongs to, and this pressure contributes to him lashing out violently against Conor. In fact, in a possible deconstruction, Richard defines himself almost entirely by how other people see him, and though this empowers him with confidence, it leaves him very fragile and desperate when his self-image is threatened.
- Adaptation Distillation: The movie covers less than half the time period of the novel and focuses exclusively on Richard, also shedding much of the backstory.
- Adaptation Name Change: Richard Culhane in the novel becomes Richard Karlsen in the film, and Laura Haines becomes Lara Hogan.
- Affectionate Nickname: Richard's father calls him “Beautiful Son” in one scene, and Richard calls him “Old Dad”.
- Big Brother Instinct: Richard is very protective of Sophie, his coach's daughter, rescuing her from being sexually assaulted in an early scene. This, combined with her age and Richard's relationship to her father, adds an extra layer of
Squick to their sex scene. - Big Man on Campus: Richard, a star rugby player and the most popular character in-universe.
- Broken Pedestal: The people who find out what Richard has done have their perception of him shattered. His friend Cian is particularly affected, cutting off their relationship entirely and saying he wants nothing more to do with him.
- The City vs. the Country: A big component of Richard and Conor's rivalry, with the former seeing him as a lower-class usurper trying to “steal” Lara. On the thematic level, their conflict also signals the major social divide between rural and urban Ireland that had developed during the Celtic Tiger. Interestingly, Richard calling Conor a “culchie” (along with Country Matters) seems to be what finally brings them to blows.
- Confess to a Lesser Crime: Played straight, then immediately averted. Richard confesses to his father that he got into a fight with Conor, but almost lets him believe that his friends Cian and Stephen are the ones who killed him. As they hug, Richard breaks and admits he was repsonsible.
- Cultural Rebel: Richard disparages the “'lost in the Celtic mists' intensity” of Conor singing a traditional Irish song, and points out that no one probably understands the lyrics anyway.
- Downer Ending: The film ends after a brief Time Skip, showing Richard studying Law at college. In a noticeable contrast to the movie's early scenes, he doesn't speak or interact with anyone. It is implied that he never confessed to the murder, letting his privileged position protect him from justice, and his close relationship with his father is irreparably damaged.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Conor, for unclear reasons, gets excessively drunk and begins crying at his eighteenth birthday. Richard takes advantage of this to flirt with Lara.
- Falling-in-Love Montage: Lara and Richard have one, though it hints at the emotional disconnect that's between them from the beginning.
- Freak Out: Richard has a major breakdown while isolated in the beachhouse.
- Freudian Trio: When Richard and his friends find out that their fight with Conor resulted in his death, their reactions diverge. Stephen is motivated by amoral self-preservation (organising their cover-story and celebrating when the investigation moves elsewhere), Cian is far more affected by his sense of guilt and responsibility, and Richard struggles between those two impulses.
- I Didn't Mean to Kill Him: Richard repeatedly insists Conor's death was a freak accident.
- Immigrant Parents: Richard's father Peter is Danish, making Richard Irish-Scandinavian (much like Dublin itself ...). At one point, they sing what sounds like a Danish folk-song together.
- Irony: After killing Conor and lying to the police, Richard is seen studying law at college.
- It's All About Me: Richard's response after learning he has killed Conor? “I can't believe this is happening to me.” Lara is suitably disgusted by this.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: While Richard is ambitious and confident (and shares a very goal-oriented mindset with Pat, his rugby coach), his father is very melancholic but easygoing.Pat Kilroy: It's the boy out there refusing a drink that he's competing against.Peter Karlsen: Oh, I know that boy. That's the boy without friends, isn' it?
- Love at First Sight: Lara is first introduced with a shot of Richard staring at her from across the beach.
- Love Triangle: Richard, Lara, Conor.
- Meaningful Echo: Richard attempts to reach out to someone three times (Lara, Cian and Peter) after discovering he has killed Conor, and each of them responds with “I can't”.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Played with; it's never clear how guilty Richard actually feels, if at all. What seems to disturb him more is that the killing has broken any coherent self-image he used to have, and the Identity Breakdown this provokes.
- Nouveau Riche: In the novel, Conor's family have become wealthy through the restaurant business, and his status as an outsider at the prestigious Brookfield College (where most of the students are the sons of judges, doctors or other professionals), contributes to the tensions leading to the fight. The film, by contrast, leaves out his backstory and plays up his connection to the Gaelic, rural and working-class part of Irish society.
- Parents as People: Peter Karlsen makes an off-hand reference to being manic-depressive, and is implied to have had significant depressive episodes during Richard's childhood, leaving the boy to look after himself. They nonetheless have a very close relationship. Peter also breaks down when his son confesses to him (when he had assumed that Richard was covering for his friends out of misguided loyalty and needed his father to set him straight), and ultimately colludes in him escaping justice.
- The Perfectionist: As the “golden boy” of his community, Richard holds himself to very high standards, and his desperation to live up to them precipitates the fight.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Conor's mother delivers one to the congregation at his funeral, after only a small handful of people came forward with information about the killing despite dozens of their children being at the party. It pushes Richard and his father to a breakdown over their guilt.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: From the perspective of the rich suitor.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The novel was based on the “Club Anabel case”
. - Sentimental Drunk: The boys have a "Deep Meaningful Conversation" after an evening at the pub, and start philosophising about horses and bulimia.
- Stepford Smiler:
Word of God has suggested that Richard's confident, independent persona is in part a reaction to the trauma of growing up with a clinically depressed parent, but also argues against simple cause-and-effect psychologising of film characters. - Trophy Wife: How Richard seems to see Lara. He is very concerned with winning his parents' approval of her and makes passive-aggressive complaints when he thinks she has proved inadequate. He also uses her to assert dominance over Conor (warning her at one point, “Don't you fucking show me up in front of him”).
- Wild Teen Party: One of these provides the cover for Conor's death, and eventually draws away the focus of the investigation.
