Moondance 1994

Moondance is a coming-of-age drama set in the windswept countryside of Western Ireland, tracing the close bond between two brothers, Patrick and Dominic, as they navigate love, loyalty, and the slow unspooling of adulthood. Dominic, played by Rúaidhrí Conroy, and Patrick, portrayed by Ian Shaw, share a carefree life under the watchful yet frequently absent eye of their mother, Marianne Faithfull. Their Aunt Dorothy often crops up with meddling concerns about Dominic’s schooling, and during one visit a young German woman named Anya, Julia Brendler, arrives to help Dominic with his education and to practice her English.

When their mother returns to stay, she welcomes Anya into the home, and a quiet sense of stability seems possible. Patrick, Ian Shaw eager for Anya to stay, asks her to marry him, and she agrees. As a wedding gesture, Dominic, Rúaidhrí Conroy, secretly leads Anya to a shack he has decorated in the woods, revealing that he intends for her to be his bride as well. On the morning of the wedding, Anya grows anxious and says she needs more time to think, leaving Patrick to confront the weight of the decision. He blames their mother for Anya’s change of heart, and yet Patrick and Anya still retreat to the shack, where they share a kiss and ultimately make love, a moment that cements the rift between duty, desire, and family loyalty. Dominic, unable to bear the prospect of losing his brother, decides to accompany them to Dublin.

In Dublin, Anya meets a friend Rose, Jasmine Russell, while Murphy, Brendan Grace, offers them a rent-free flat above his bar, an arrangement that gives the brothers a new base and new temptations. Dominic also pursues his own ambitions, training a greyhound named Ishka, and jealousy over Patrick and Anya’s closeness begins to simmer. Anya begins to show her affection for Dominic, and a tense moment when she and Dominic nearly become intimate is interrupted by Patrick, further straining the fragile trio. This strain pushes Dominic toward a separation, and he eventually takes a job on a boat. Before leaving, he returns to the countryside and sets fire to the shack, a dramatic act that his mother, Marianne Faithfull, comforts him through.

Back in Dublin, Anya reveals that she and Dominic truly love each other, but she also says she will return to Germany. The brothers try to put their differences behind them and say their goodbyes, choosing paths that keep their bond intact even as they prepare to move forward separately.