Trouble with Sex 2005

Michelle Kelly Renée Weldon is an ambitious, successful lawyer in Dublin. Her relationship with her doctor boyfriend Ivan Declan Conlon is strained, and her mother Rosie Susan Fitzgerald has succumbed to premature dementia, living in a care home she visits regularly. The quiet rhythm of Michelle’s life is challenged by these tensions as she moves through a city that feels both intimate and indifferent.

Meanwhile, Conor Flynn [Aidan Gillen] runs a quiet, traditional pub in the city, owned by his father. He takes care of the Old Man Eamon Morrissey, a hardened drinker who is actually his father, and he has no girlfriend, having withdrawn somewhat from life. Joe [Gerard Mannix Flynn], a barman who has been at the pub since his father’s time, works alongside him, keeping Flynn’s a steady, familiar presence in the neighborhood.

A volatile row between Michelle and Ivan erupts at a party, amplified by Ivan’s clear interest in the alluring Eva [Irina Björklund], who isn’t the first distraction in his life. Michelle storms into Flynn’s pub after hours, where her friend Kathy [Sinéad Keenan] is waiting to help her regroup. The morning after, a chastened Michelle returns to the pub to retrieve her phone, and there, the spark between Michelle and Conor begins to glow in the glow of the bar’s worn wood and warm lights. What starts as curiosity blooms into a habit, and Michelle begins to spend more time in the pub, drawn by Conor’s quiet charm and the sense of being seen.

They go dancing with Joe and Kathy, and the night ends with Michelle inviting them back to her apartment. Conor and Michelle share their first kiss, though he is interrupted before he can fully commit to a date. Yet the second meeting proves more decisive: a genuine invitation to a dinner with colleagues leads to a spontaneous music session back at the pub, where Michelle takes the stage and belts out a song. Returning to her apartment, they finally become intimate, and a true affair takes hold, marked by a feverish closeness and a closeness that quickly consumes their days and nights.

Ivan appears again, testing the boundaries of Michelle’s resolve as they argue. The relationship strains under the weight of competing loyalties, and Michelle takes Conor away for a weekend in the countryside, where they share a rare, idyllic escape. On their last night, Conor admits that he is falling in love with her, and Michelle, feeling the risk of commitment, urges caution even as the feeling grows stronger.

Back in the city, life resumes its sharp, professional pace. Michelle is promoted and buys herself a sports car, and the differences in their lives become more visible. Conor senses that Michelle’s feelings may be cooling, and when she stands him up, a furious quarrel explodes, with harsh words that leave both reeling. They manage to mend some of the breach, but the fragile peace is short-lived: after a night out, Ivan arrives again, letting himself into the apartment with keys he previously refused to give back. A tense confrontation unfolds, and Michelle’s failure to tell Conor about Ivan fuels anger and confusion in him. He feels betrayed and erupts, leaving in a storm, while Michelle watches in hurt confusion.

The relationship collapses just as Michelle had begun to truly fall for him. Conor retreats, and when she tries to apologize at the pub, he rejects her, bringing their affair to an end. A tide of other losses follows—Conor’s father dies, and he decides to sell up, signaling a shift in priorities for him. The two drift apart in the street, passing each other with a cold civility, until a moment of resolve turns into a reunion: Conor stops, calls to her, and they embrace, finding a path back to each other amid the city’s evolving rhythms. The story resolves with a quiet sense that love, even when tested by distance and betrayal, can endure and rebind when two people choose to listen to each other again.