The Miracle is a 1991

1991 in film

The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 written and directed by Neil Jordan

Neil Jordan

Neil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...

. It stars Beverly D'Angelo

Beverly D'Angelo

Beverly Heather D'Angelo is an American actress and singer.-Early life:D'Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla , a violinist, and Gene D'Angelo, a bass player and television station manager. She is of part Italian ancestry...

, Donal McCann

Donal McCann

Donal McCann was an Irish stage, film, and television actor best known for his roles in the works of Brian Friel and for his lead role in John Huston's last film, The Dead.-Early life:...

, and Niall Byrne. It was entered into the 41st Berlin International Film Festival

41st Berlin International Film Festival

The 41st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 15 to 26, 1991.-Jury:* Volker Schlöndorff * Chantal Akerman* Laurie Anderson* José Luis Borau* Judith Godrèche* Yuri Klepikov* Renate Krößner* Gillo Pontecorvo...

.

Plot

Two teenage friends, Jimmy (Niall Byrne) and Rose (Lorraine Pilkington) live in the small seaside town of Bray

Bray

Bray is a town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is a busy urban centre and seaside resort, with a population of 31,901 making it the fourth largest in Ireland as of the 2006 census...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. They spend their days wandering the streets and piers. To kill time, Rose and Jimmy make up stories about strangers on the street. One day, while watching people at the train station, a stylish older woman, Renee Baker (Beverly D'Angelo), stands out so imposingly from the dull townsfolk that Jimmy and Rose decide to follow her, infatuated with knowing everything about her. They pursue her to the beach and at last Renee speaks to them. When she looks at Jimmy, he's at once infatuated with this mystifying woman. Rose, who has feelings for Jimmy herself, decides to make him jealous by trying to attract a young lion tamer from a travelling circus. But Jimmy is completely attached to Renee and his desire leads him to fateful consequences.

Cast

• Beverly D'Angelo
  Beverly D'Angelo
  Beverly Heather D'Angelo is an American actress and singer.-Early life:D'Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla , a violinist, and Gene D'Angelo, a bass player and television station manager. She is of part Italian ancestry...
  
   as Renee Baker
• Donal McCann
  Donal McCann
  Donal McCann was an Irish stage, film, and television actor best known for his roles in the works of Brian Friel and for his lead role in John Huston's last film, The Dead.-Early life:...
  
   as Sam
• Niall Byrne as Jimmy
• Lorraine Pilkington
  Lorraine Pilkington
  Lorraine Pilkington is an Irish actress from Dublin, who is best known for her role as Katrina Finlay on Monarch of the Glen. Trained at the Gaiety School of Acting, Pilkington began her career at the age of 15 when she appeared in The Miracle directed by Neil Jordan. She appeared onstage in the...
  
   as Rose
• J. G. Devlin as Mr. Beausang
• Cathleen Delaney as Miss Strange
• Tom Hickey as Tommy
• Shane Connaughton
  Shane Connaughton
  Shane Connaughton is an Irish writer and actor, probably best known as co-writer of the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for My Left Foot. He also co-wrote the screenplays for the Academy Award-winning 1980 short film The Dollar Bottom and 1992 film The Playboys, as well as other screenplays and...
  
   as Rose's Father
• Mikkel Gaup as Jonner

Critical reception

The film got mixed reviews upon its release in 1991. Critic Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 gave the film a two star rating out of four saying, "Strange, how a movie of such delicate romantic sensibilities could go astray because of a heavy-handed plot." However, the film currently holds a 71% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, with five reviewers giving positive reviews and two critics giving it a bad review.

Box office

The Miracle was released on July 3, 1991 in the United States and made $12,076 in its opening weekend. The film made a mere $835,519 all together when it ended its run on October 10, 1991 with its widest release being in 41 theatres.

Availability

After the film's theatrical run, the film was released on videocassette by Live Home Video and around the same time in Canada by Cineplex Odeon and MCA. To this day, the film has never been released on DVD and as of January 11, 2010, Lions Gate Home Entertainment has yet to announce any plans for a DVD release.