MovieChat Forums > Felicia's Journey (1999) Discussion > Irish girl pregnant in the 90s

Irish girl pregnant in the 90s

posted 16 years ago by opusv5
12 replies | jump to latest

I get the impression that this film is set in the 1990s, and that the book it was based on takes place in 1975. Ireland had changed a lot in those decades, and I don't think getting preganant outside of marriage was the scandal (it is considered so in the film) in the 1990s that it once would have been. In that sense, this film is an outsider's look at Ireland--a country now relatively sophisticated about sex. Reason? As an influence, the RC church is now history.

[–] ash-mcgrath 16 years ago

The book was set in 1992.

[–] opusv5 16 years ago

The father's and others' reactions to the young woman's unmarried pregnancy seemed a bit heavy considering the era. And Ireland had, by the 1990s, legalized contraception. Perhaps I should read the book-the author has a very good reputation.

[–] airfox77 14 years ago

The book is fantastic. If you haven't read it yet, do!

[–] mbunch5001 13 years ago

where does OP get 1975 from? even at the end of the book, they reference a character seeing Basic Instinct.

[–] Thomas_S 16 years ago

As I understood it, the scandel was not so much the pregnancy itself but the fact that her boyfriend was British. I believe you can find quite a bit of Irish who are not particularly fond of the British due to the past, so the film may not be so much out of step as you think. Abortion is still outlawed, I believe, although not sure.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] sagatorel 14 years ago

O wouldn't say British, They dislike the English limeys, (not the other UK countries Scotland/Wales).

[–] Thomas_S 14 years ago

That makes sense. I should have said 'English'.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] mnbush 12 years ago

What?????

[–] LAT71 12 years ago

Ireland as a country may have been much more progressively minded by the nineties, but Felicia's father was depicted as someone who had grown up in an earlier much more hard line Roman Catholic Church controlled era, and retained this attitude.

[–] 12 years ago

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