History Film / TheBansheesOfInisherin

** Pádraic uses the phrase 'it takes two to tango' when trying to engage Colm in conversation, which wouldn't be coined until about 30 years after the film takes place. (And even if the phrase had already existed then, it's not like anyone on the island would likely know what a tango even was.)

** Pádraic uses the phrase 'it takes two to tango' when trying to engage Colm in conversation, which wouldn't be coined until about 30 years after the film takes place. (And even if the phrase had already existed then, it's not like anyone on the island would likely be familiar with an Argentine dance genre.)

** Pádraic uses the phrase 'it takes two to tango' when trying to engage Colm in conversation, which wouldn't be coined until about 30 years after the film takes place.

** After Pádraic insults Peadar in Mrs O'Riordon's shop, he heads back to his cart and briefly gets distracted noticing Colm coming towards him. In the background while this is happening, Peadar can be seen in the background exiting the shop with his fists clenched and walking in his direction. Seconds later, he's punching Pádraic in the face in retaliation for his comments.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Colm and Pádraic don't reconcile and likely never will. Colm has lost his home, is now down five fingers of his own choosing which means he can never play the fiddle again or have the same kind of life he did prior, and his sense of despair still there. Dominic drowns; whether by accident or suicide is never determined. Pádraic has lost his only two friends, his sister, and his beloved donkey, and his experiences over the film have left him bitter and vengeful towards Colm and unhappy with his life as a whole. Both men are ultimately doomed to spend the rest of their lives alone on a miserable island they hate, but can't bring themselves to leave. The only bright spot is that Siobhan has apparently found a fulfilling life on mainland Ireland.]]

** Depending on whether or not [[spoiler:you believe Dominic killed himself, he crossed this when Siobhan turned him down.]]

* AbusiveParents: Peadar beats his son Dominic almost every night, and it's an open secret around the island. [[spoiler: At one point, Pádraic accuses him of sexually molesting his son as well, it's never confirmed but both Peadar and Dominic's reaction to this suggestion imply it's true]].

** The nature of Mrs. [=McCormick=]: is she just a creepy old lady, psychic in some way, a witch, or is she truly a banshee like the kind Colm talks about?
* TheBadGuysAreCops: Peadar is a police officer and the most despicable person on Inisherin, and openly [[CorruptCop beats people, including his own son]] with impunity.
* BadLiar: Pádraic comes up with a completely transparent lie to get one of Colm's music students, Declan, away from Inisherin, involving the student's father being hit by a bread truck. Due to Declan's naivete, as well as the fact that his ''mother'' died from being hit by a bread truck, he believes it anyway. He also openly admits to being a terrible liar after finding the first finger and not wanting to tell Siobhan what the noise at the door was.

* DespairEventHorizon:
** Pádraic crosses it when [[spoiler:he discovers his beloved donkey Jenny choked to death on one of Colm's fingers.]]

* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Colm cuts ties with Pádraic primarily due to this, feeling unfulfilled by their friendship after all the years together and believing he needs to spend his remaining years dedicating himself to his music so that he will compose something that will be remembered after he's gone.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:It's ambiguous whether Dominic really did slip and drown as Mrs. [=McCormick=] said or if he killed himself after being disillusioned by Pádraic's growing cruelty and Sioban's romantic rejection of him.]]
* DumbassHasAPoint: Pádraic's rant at Colm at the pub. Despite being drunk off his head on whiskey and stumbling through several points, he successfully calls out Colm for his incredibly petty reasons for ending their friendship, pointing out that the "less dull" company he's now accepting after cutting Pádraic out of his life includes Peadar, a loathsome man who beats [[spoiler: and (maybe) molests]] his son. Colm even acknowledges his point, saying he actually likes Pádraic more after doing it.
* DumbIsGood:
** Discussed. Though they're unable to tell him that he's as intellectual as Colm, or intelligent in general, the islanders try to reassure Pádraic that he's "one of life's good guys".
** Colm's attempt to become more intellectual coincides in him [[TookALevelInJerkass becoming more unpleasant.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Pádraic is introduced happily walking through town, greeting passersby, on his way to Colm's house, establishing him as a NiceGuy. There's even [[EverythingsBetterWithRainbows a rainbow in the sky behind him]] to really drive the point home.
* EverybodyHasStandards:
** [[spoiler:Despite becoming murderously angry at Colm for the accidental killing of Jenny the donkey, Pádraic has no desire to kill Colm's dog, even after Mrs. [=McCormick=] puts the idea in his head. He even warns Colm to keep his dog safe while telling him that he's going to burn his house down.]]
** Similarly, [[spoiler: Colm is horrified at learning that he'd inadvertently caused the death of Jenny. When Peadar arrives and begins to mock Pádraic's grief over Jenny's death, Colm promptly knocks him out cold. Jenny's death and Pádraic declaration of retribution marks the point where Colm begins to regret how far his vendetta has gone.]].
* {{Fingore}}: Colm threatens Pádraic that he will cut off one of his own fingers every time Pádraic tries to talk to him. [[spoiler:He makes good on that threat, five times over.]]
* EvilOldFolks: Evil might be too extreme, but Mrs. [=McCormick=] seems to enjoy the suffering that goes on around her to an extent. She even tries to put the idea of [[spoiler:killing Colm's dog in Pádraic's head when he is going to burn Colm's house down. Even as angry as he is at Colm, he's completely put off by the idea.]] Then there's the ambiguity of whether she is a banshee or not. Colm speculates that if banshees are real, maybe they don't shriek and portend death anymore, maybe they just sit back and watch in amusement. This certainly would fit Mrs. [=McCormick=].

* HateSink: Peadar is one of the few characters with absolutely no redeeming qualities.

* HumbleHero: Pádraic is a simple man whose only apparent goals in life seem to be running the modest farm he inherited from his parents and spending time with his friends, sister and animals.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** Colm starts the plot off by deciding he no longer wants to be Pádraic's friend because he's too boring. Siobhan angrily rebukes this by telling him, "You're all [[PrecisionFStrike fecking]] boring!" Depending on how you interpret his character (and in particular his scenes with the priest where talks about how his despair remains even after cutting Pádraic off), it could be determined that Colm was projecting what he didn't like about himself onto Pádraic.
** Similarly, he points to Pádraic's lack of intelligence as another factor in his decision to no longer be friends with him, but the company he keeps afterwards aren't shown to be that much better. The few times he has conversations with Siobhan, the only other person in the film who is intellectually on equal footing with him, Colm struggles to figure out what to discuss beyond small talk about the weather.

* JerkassHasAPoint: As cruel and petty as his justifications for ending his friendship with Pádraic are, Colm clearly gets to Siobhan when pointing out how soul-crushingly monotonous and unfulfiling life on Inisherin can be. [[spoiler: Unlike Colm and Pádraic however, who ultimately can't bring themselves to escape their misery on Inisherin, Siobhan actually takes steps to improve her situation by leaving the island and starting life anew on the Irish mainland]].
* KickTheDog: Peadar is established as a jerk when he ignores Pádraic's friendly greeting, and Pádraic gripes under his breath that the constable in fact ''always'' ignores his greetings.
* KillTheCutie: Both [[spoiler:Dominic]] and [[spoiler:Jenny the Donkey]] die.
* KindheartedSimpleton: Pádraic is this at the beginning. He's friendly to everyone and seems to be perfectly content with his simple and mundane existence in Inisherin, thinking nothing more beyond his day to day. Colm breaking off his friendship with Pádraic with no explanation and what follows turns him into a much more bitter man.

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: [[spoiler: Colm seems to suffer almost no distress from his severed fingers and is sometime seen casually going about his business with the stumps still bleeding.]]
* MaleFrontalNudity: Apparently, Peadar likes to sleep in his rocking chair completely naked, which both Pádraic and the audience [[FanDisservice have the pleasure of seeing]].
* {{Manchild}}: This is Pádraic's characterization. He's rather dim, friendly, and weak-willed. He has no love life, seems to want nothing else except to hang around his buddy and pet donkey, and gets childishly spiteful when he's angry.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Colm only begins to regret how far his vendetta with Pádraic has escalated once his actions accidentally cause the death of Pádraic's donkey. Unfortunately for him, Pádraic's declaration of murderous retribution for this makes any chance of reconciliation at that point impossible.]]
* NiceGuy: Pádraic starts the movie as this, and it's part of what makes Colm resent him: despite his dullness, he's just so ''nice'' that it's hard to break off their friendship in a normal, healthy way. [[spoiler:Dominic reveals that it's the reason he hangs out with Pádraic so much. When Pádraic reveals that he cruelly tricked a man into thinking his father had been killed by a runaway van just to mess with Colm, Dominic is disgusted with him]].

* NoSocialSkills: Dominic, out of some combination of drunkenness, a terrible upbringing, and a mental disability, is awkward and blunt whenever he talks.

* OneHourWorkWeek: A [[JustifiedTrope justified]] example. Other than make a milk delivery, we don't see Pádraic doing any work, and he seems to spend most of his time lounging around or at the pub. He apparently quits whatever work he does do before 2 PM every day to hit the pub with Colm. For his part, it's never clear what Colm's profession even is. This only serves to emphasize how monotonous and uneventful life on Inisherin can be for the three leads. While Pádraic is initially content with it, the lack of fulfilment has worn down both Siobhan and Colm.
* OnlySaneWoman: Siobhan is the only character in the film who thinks that ''both'' Pádraic (for not letting Colm's decision go) and Colm (for ending his and Pádraicare's friendship for entirely petty and selfish reasons) are being ridiculous and tries to expand her horizons beyond Inisherin.

* ReformedButRejected [[spoiler: Colm eventually realizes the feud has gone too far and tries to mend fences with Pádraic. His attempt is coldly rebuffed, with Pádraic telling him they will never be friends again and the feud will only end when one of them is dead]].

* SelfHarm: Colm warns Pádraic that if he doesn't stop talking to him, he'll cut off one finger every time he does. [[spoiler:He follows through with the threat.]]

* TraumaCongaLine: Pádraic, in rapid succession, has to deal with his longtime friend not wanting to be friends with him anymore and coldly rebuffing him whenever he tries to reconcile, his sister leaving Inisherin for a job on the mainland, [[spoiler:his beloved pet donkey dying, and his other friend drowning in the lake, heavily implied to be by suicide]]. It's no wonder he becomes increasingly bitter and closed-off.

* WickedPretentious: Colm thinks of himself as a great intellectual and artist whose mind is well above those of the other Inisherin residents, bar Siobhan. Siobhan doesn't agree, telling Colm he's just as "boring" as Pádraic and the others are and also corrects him about a claim he made about Mozart at the pub.

* WorldOfJerkass: Pádraic [[spoiler:lies to Colm's music student about his father getting hit by a truck to make him go back to the mainland]], Colm threatens to cut off his fingers if Pádraic keeps talking to him, Siobhan frequenly shouts and swears, and Paedar is abusive to his son Dominic. Even the priest shouts and swears at Colm after their first confessional.

** Pádraic bursts in to Colm's home later in the film, and after a tense exchange, they manage to have a civil conversation around Colm's music, which leaves Pádraic confident enough that their feud is over that he invites Colm to go to the pub with him. [[spoiler: Once Pádraic has left the home, Colm immediately goes to fetch his shears and cuts off the remaining fingers on his left hand.]]

* TitleDrop: Colm decides to name one of the songs he has composed as the film's title.

** Similarly, [[spoiler: Colm is horrified at learning that he'd inadvertently caused the death of Jenny. When Peader arrives and begins to mock Pádraic's grief over Jenny's death, Colm promptly knocks him out cold. Jenny's death and Pádraic declaration of retribution marks the point where Colm begins to regret how far his vendetta has gone.]].

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Colm only begins to regret how far his vendetta with Pádraic has escalated once his actions accidentally cause the death of Pádraic's donkey. Unfortunately for him Pádraic's declaration of murderous retribution for this makes any chance of reconciliation at that point impossible.]]

** [[spoiler:Despite becoming murderously angry at Colm for the accidental killing of his donkey, Pádraic has no desire to kill Colm's dog, even after Mrs. [=McCormick=] puts the idea in his head. He even warns Colm to keep his dog safe while telling him that he's going to burn his house down.]]
** By the end of the film, Colm is so disgusted by Peader that he knocks him out cold when he starts mocking [[spoiler: Pádraic's grief over the loss of his donkey]].

** Colm starts the plot off by deciding he no longer wants to be Pádraic's friend because he's too boring. Siobhan angrily rebukes this by telling him, "You're all [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] boring!" Depending on how you interpret his character (and in particular his scenes with the priest where talks about how his despair remains even after cutting Pádraic off), it could be determined that Colm was projecting what he didn't like about himself onto Pádraic.

* EvilOldFolk: Evil might be too extreme, but Mrs. [=McCormick=] seems to enjoy the suffering that goes on around her to an extent. She even tries to put the idea of [[spoiler:killing Colm's dog in Pádraic's head when he is going to burn Colm's house down. Even as angry as he is at Colm, he's completely put off by the idea.]] Then there's the ambiguity of whether she is a banshee or not. Colm speculates that if banshees are real, maybe they don't shriek and portend death anymore, maybe they just sit back and watch in amusement. This certainly would fit Mrs. [=McCormick=].

* OneHourWorkWeek: A [[JustifiedTrope justified]] example. Other than make a milk delivery, we don't see Pádraic doing any work, and he seems to spend most of his time lounging around or at the pub. He apparently quits whatever work he does do before 2 PM every day to hit the pub with Colm. For his part, it's never clear what Colm's profession even is. This only serves to emphasize how monotonous and uneventful life on Inisherin can be for the three leads. While Pádraic is initially content with it, the lack of fulfillment has worn down both Siobhan and Colm.

* DumbIsGood: Discussed. Though they're unable to tell him that he's as intellectual as Colm, or intelligent in general, the islanders try to reassure Pádraic that he's "one of life's good guys".