The Delinquent Season

Yvonne is preparing to go out to meet someone, a babysitter arrives and Yvonne leaves. Yvonne is waiting in a restaurant alone for someone, a man arrives, we do not see him, only hearing him greet her.

Jim (Cillian Murphy) and his wife Danielle (Eva Birthistle) are hosting a dinner party one evening at which Danielle's best friend Yvonne (Catherine Walker) and her husband Chris (Andrew Scott) are guests. A disagreement erupts between Yvonne and Chris, Chris taking issue with the way Yvonne discussed her seeing of him spending time with their daughters, at which Chris was angered by the implications of this and thus the assumption Danielle and Jim would make of him as a father.

One day, Jim, locked out of his house after collecting his two children from school and his wife Danielle at work, has nowhere to go, after speaking to Danielle on the phone she suggests he visits Yvonne to collect the spare key, Jim is reluctant and believes it will be awkward due to the argument at the dinner party, he goes anyway. Jim and Yvonne chat over coffee whilst the children play together in the garden, they begin to get to know each other. During this time, Jim also learns that Chris's recent outbursts are due to mood swings he is experiencing as the result of an undisclosed brain-related illness, Chris has not yet told his children or Yvonne and swears Jim to secrecy.

Jim and his children are sat having lunch one day in a restaurant. As the waitress Orla approaches to collect the plates, Jim queries as to whether one of the meals was supposed to include fries as they hadn't accompanied the meal, a dispute between Jim and Orla takes place and Orla swears at Jim, they leave the restaurant.

One night, after another argument at home with Chris which results in a physical attack, Yvonne and her children take shelter at Jim and Danielle's house overnight. The next morning, with Jim working from home and Yvonne at work and the children all at school, Jim and Yvonne talk about marriage. Yvonne confesses her feelings for Jim and they have sex in his marital bed, they soon embark on a fully fledged sexual affair, having sex regularly in a hotel room and latterly on a nearby beach where they are caught.

Yvonne having learnt both of Chris's illness and the fact it is terminal, is angry with Jim and also rejects the prospect of pursuing a relationship with him despite her early encouragement in the affair that he leave Danielle and she leave Chris.

One afternoon Jim falls asleep and is late picking his children up from school, he lies to the headteacher as to why this was, however, he is caught out later when Danielle asks why he was late and he fails to use the same excuse he did in front of his children, with his children saying he is lying. This arouses Danielle's suspicion and she asks for the passcode to Jim's phone, he questions her intentions and refuses to give it to her, he later confesses to having an affair but refuses to say who with and is forced to leave the marital home.

Danielle is later chatting to Yvonne in the kitchen, Danielle is telling Yvonne about Jim's affair none the wiser that it is Yvonne Jim has been cheating with.

One night, Jim turns up on Yvonne's doorstep, he wants to know if Yvonne will return to him upon Chris's death and he confesses his love for her, Yvonne is annoyed at this and that Jim knew Chris was ill when he slept with her.

Jim goes to a bar and is drinking alone, here he bumps into Orla, the waitress. They share back and forth in regards to their earlier disagreement over the meal and the philosophy of the customer always being right. Orla asks Jim to stay for a drink with her, he does. Jim wakes up next to Orla in her bed the following morning. He is woken by his phone ringing, it is Danielle informing him of the death of Chris. As Jim is dressing to leave, Orla asks to see Jim again, he is unsure and questions whether it was not just a one-night stand, Orla is unimpressed and verbally abuses Jim and orders him to leave.

At Chris's funeral, Danielle is there with her new partner, Jim's children talk positively about him and this upsets Jim as he fears he has lost his children. Jim then attacks Danielle's new partner who gets the upper hand and Jim ends up in hospital. In the waiting room alone, he breaks down emotionally.

Some time later, Yvonne is waiting in a restaurant alone, as she was at the beginning of the film, it is revealed that the person she was waiting for was Jim. They both catch-up and get along, Yvonne suggests she and Jim rekindle their relationship, but Jim is now in a relationship, it is too late.

Yvonne returns home, distraught, she cries at her front door.

Jim returns home to Orla the waitress, with whom he is living, they argue over where Jim has been, but he is honest with her. Orla comforts him and they chat about the restaurant whilst cuddling on the sofa. Jim assures Orla he felt nothing for Yvonne upon seeing her again.

• Cillian Murphy as Jim
• Eva Birthistle as Danielle
• Catherine Walker as Yvonne
• Andrew Scott as Chris

The Delinquent Season was filmed in Dublin.

Harry Guerin gave the film four stars remarking 'If this film reminds us of anything, it's not to let go lightly.' [3]

The Irish Times' Tara Brady was much more negative, giving it two stars out of five, saying "The denizens of The Delinquent Season are all ghastly and yet – despite valiant efforts from a talented ensemble cast – not quite horrid enough to be interesting or engaging. [...] O’Rowe’s stylised language – an often potent dialect that sets observational banter to Mametian rhythms – sounds off-key on a big screen."[4]

• Official website
• The Delinquent Season at IMDb
• The Delinquent Season at Metacritic
• The Delinquent Season at Rotten Tomatoes