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Frankie Starlight
Frankie Starlight
Directed by	Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Written by	Ronan O'Leary; Chet Raymo;
Based on	The Dork of Cork; by Chet Raymo
Produced by	Noel Pearson
Starring	Anne Parillaud; Matt Dillon; Gabriel Byrne;
Cinematography	Paul Laufer
Edited by	Ruth Foster
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Distributed by	Fine Line Features
Release date	22 November 1995;
Running time	101 minutes
Countries	United States; United Kingdom; Ireland; France;
Language	English
Box office	$78,168 (US)

Frankie Starlight is a 1995 drama–romantic war film directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. The screenplay was written by Ronan O'Leary and Chet Raymo,^[2] based on the internationally best-selling novel The Dork of Cork by Raymo.^[3]

Plot

Frank Bois writes a successful first novel and finds himself looking back over his life. His mother Bernadette (Parillaud) was a French woman who, after the death of her friends and family in World War II, hid herself aboard an Allied war ship heading to Ireland, where she exchanged sexual favors for silence among the soldiers who found her on board. A nice customs agent, Jack Kelly (Byrne), allowed Bernadette to enter Ireland illegally, and they soon became a couple, even though she was already pregnant from one of the soldiers from the ship.

Bernadette gave birth to Frankie (Alan Pentony), who suffered from dwarfism. As he grew older, Frankie developed romantic feelings for Jack's daughter Emma (Georgina Cates), who did not share his feelings, while Jack taught astronomy to Frankie. Eventually, Bernadette met Terry Klout (Dillon), an American soldier she had met on the war ship, who offered to marry her. Bernadette and Frankie went with Terry to his home in Texas, but both mother and son felt they didn't belong, so they returned to the Irish home they loved. An older Bernadette eventually committed suicide, and Frank then used his life as source material for his writing.

Principal cast

Gabriel Byrne as Jack Kelly
Anne Parillaud as Bernadette
Matt Dillon as Terry Klout
Corban Walker as Frank Bois
Rudi Davies as Emma
- Georgina Cates as Young Emma
Dearbhla Molloy as Effa Kelly

Critical reception

Janet Maslin of The New York Times thought the film was flawed but decent and did not think highly of Parillaud's acting:

Sincere, serious and more than a little strange... Quirky as it is, this earnest film offers few real surprises and only fleeting charms. One of its disappointments is the listless performance by Anne Parillaud, the fiery star of La Femme Nikita, who moves distractedly through her role. The movie, based on Chet Raymo's novel The Dork of Cork, tries hard but hasn't much glimmer of its own.^[4]