Stranger[s’] Voices at Home. The Many Faces of Cillian Murphy as the Misfit
Stranger[s’] Voices at Home. The Many Faces of Cillian Murphy as the Misfit

Summary/Abstract: Independent Ireland, slowly shedding the “Church and State” image of perfect unity rooted in indigenous culture, seems to offer little hope for a sense of self-coherence to the Irish young man. Three instances of marginality as embodied by Cillian Murphy in Disco Pigs (2001), Intermission (2003), and Breakfast on Pluto (2005) examine and explore the unnecessary misadventures of youth dangerously veering towards an extra-systemic position. Whether or not they are to be later re-absorbed into an image of the community or the partition between them is final, they are shaped by their erotic encounters that lay bare their raw, unhinged nature and desire to be acknowledged as different, yet human. Walking the line between comedy and drama, there is less genre-specific pressure to fit the narrative into certain patterns and more room to explore the clashing codes these peripheral characters work with, trying to make sense of their experience and their place in the world.

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