A WHITE HORSE | Omeleto

A young woman escapes a psychiatric hospital.


A WHITE HORSE is used with permission from Shaun O'Connor. Learn more at https://shaunoconnor.com.


Bridget has just escaped from a medical institution, wearing nothing but the hospital gown she has been treated in. Approaching a telephone booth, she puts in a call to her mother, telling her what she's just done.

Her parents are immediately concerned, anxious for Bridget's well-being. But when they realize just what Bridget wants to do next, the conversation takes a turn, revealing what's underneath their anxiety.

Directed by Shaun O'Connor and written by Paul Cahill, this powerful short drama, set in 1970s Ireland, takes a high-stakes, emotionally pressured situation and uses it to expand a lens onto the larger social and cultural context shaping Bridget's predicament. It does this with a deftly constructed narrative sleight-of-hand, casting Bridget's dramatic situation in one light before revealing it to be something else entirely.

Shot with a faded, worn-in and shadowy look and feel that suits both the 1970s time period and the psychological nature of the storytelling, the film opens with a sense of disorientation that mirrors Bridget's state of mind. As the conversation unfurls between Bridget and her mother, it seems like something between a mentally distressed daughter and her worried parents. Bridget's mother sounds anxious, concerned and maternal, wanting to make sure Bridget is safe and sound, even as her daughter expresses paranoid worries that she's being followed by a white horse.

But when the conversation ends, the acutely observed writing and direction drop hints via the dialogue and performance that the picture is more complicated than meets the eye initially, especially when a confused Bridget begins asking to return to a beloved place in her past with a girl named Niamh, who Bridget's mother unwavering refers to as Bridget's "friend." Actor Amber Deasy's performance is achingly vulnerable and helpless, evoking a deep sympathy. As her mother, actor Cora Fenton conveys the anguish of a parent concerned about her child's well-being, the inability to accept who she is and a determination to do whatever she can to make it right.

The latter half of A WHITE HORSE expands upon the world of the family and conversation, offering a heartbreaking reveal, rendered in spare but incisive detail. In doing so, it also sheds light on how differences were treated as abnormalities and were "fixed" with often brutal methods that created their own trauma. It draws a line connecting past and present, questioning not just the method but the idea behind it: psychologically brutalizing people until they are reduced just enough to fit into boxes.