MOVIES: "Eden" is anything but paradise

As an Irish film, "Eden" carries with it some baggage. Yes, a few of the characters are alcoholics. Yes, the film is a family melodrama, set in a place where everyone knows everyone else.

But "Eden," which had its international premiere at Tribeca, is more than just another little Irish film. It tells a story that is universal, but sets it in a time and place that is unmistakably Irish. Eileen Walsh plays Breda, a woman in her early thirties who has been married to Billy (played by Aidan Walsh) for ten years. On the eve of their anniversary, she realizes that he's lost interest in her, and is jealous of his bachelor friends who still go to the nightclubs every week.

What makes the film compelling is that both Billy and Breda, who in Eugene O'Brien's play delivered monologues that narrated the entire story, are reluctant to give into the roles expected of them, whether it's the happily married couple or the unhappily married one. Instead, they fight the expectations others have of them. This is especially true in one scene, where Breda prepares to go out for her tenth anniversary by putting on a dress she has purchased for the occasion.

"It was really important to play her as true as possible," Walsh said a press conference this week. "She does feel fantastic in the dress. What's so awful, then, is that she could never compete with the dancing girl. She has a huge fear of being a whiner."

"Eden" plays on Thursday at 7:15 p.m., and then again on Saturday at 4:45 p.m.