Silence and Stones in The Banshees of Inisherin

Kerry Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)

On the island of Inishmore in Galway Bay, there are drystone walls dividing the fields. That's a common enough sight in Ireland, but not like on the tiny, windswept island: Here, there are fields within fields within fields, some barely a few dozen strides wide. These distinctive boxes are why Martin McDonagh decided to film his follow-up to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, period drama The Banshees of Inisherin, on Inishmore. "There aren't that many places in Ireland with that many small fields," he said, "and you definitely can't find them away from telegraph poles or tarmac roads."

Those tiny divides become a metaphor for the rift between two old friends (McDonagh's In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as simple Pádraic and weatherworn Colm) who suddenly stop being friends, much to Pádraic's consternation and the befuddlement of his sister, Siobhan (Kerry Condon).

McDonagh, who made waves onstage with plays like The Cripple of Inishmaan before his career as a filmmaker, said that his approach to dialogue has stayed constant across media in that it's "all heightened and theatrical." However, Banshees undoubtedly hearkens back to his career-launching plays of the Leenane Trilogy and the incomplete Aran Islands Trilogy. "It's small-town shops in Ireland, and quiet farmhouses, and a simpler, quieter, sadder kind of story."

It's also a story set at a very particular time: March into April of 1923, when the newly independent Irish Free State established formal border points with the six counties of Northern Ireland while the new government clashed violently with the Irish Republican Army. It's when Ireland truly became a nation-state and immediately turned on itself in pointless bloodshed. It's the kind of detail that McDonagh said not knowing won't distract from the conflict between Colm and Pádraic, even if the civil war mirrors their feud. "It's something that you want to let an audience feel out or see how much importance it has to them in the reading of the story."

It's not the history, but the quietness that is pivotal to the story, and how it's told. Colm basically just becomes tired of Pádraic's constant chatter, and so McDonagh stripped down the sound design to the point where all that can be heard are the words and silences between them. He said, "I hate it when cigarettes become a character because they're so noisy, and there were loads of places where the ocean could become [one]."

On location, Condon said, "The waves outside the pub were really loud, but you can't hear them in the film."

"It's not a film about the ocean," McDonagh added. "It's a film about two blokes talking – and their sister."

"She's in the middle because she sees both sides," Condon said of Siobhan. "She feels for Pádraic and she understands that it's so hurtful for him, but she understands Colm's need for quiet, and to know that there's more to life than just talking crap and wasting days."

Like Colm, she's bursting with desire for something more, and is often the most – indeed, only – colorful character on the island. Condon credited costume designer Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh with the bright flashes of red and yellow in Siobhan's wardrobe, and saw a kinship with Colm, who also yearns for something more. However, unlike the old man, she said, "She doesn't have a need for everyone to know that she's smart."

When the world beyond the island, in all its possibilities, makes itself known, it's by sound: gunfire from the mainland, or the lap of the waves in the harbor and the shrieks of gulls on the dockside. This is, after all, a rural community, and animals play major roles. "The biggest diva on the film was little donkey Jenny," said McDonagh. "She had a little puffy jacket and would often turn up late. But the big horse was a dream, and got more scenes because she was so good."

The Banshees of Inisherin is in cinemas now. Read our review.