{ "id": "ep7wsdd0xf", "slug": "nothing-personal-1995-film", "title": "Nothing Personal (1995 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": 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"culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-late-1990s.yr-1995-1998", "label": "Released 1995 to 1998", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-late-1990s.yr-1995-1998" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Drama films 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts 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and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s", "label": "Drama films 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Nothing Personal (1995), originally titled Fanatic Heart, is a Thaddeus O'Sullivan drama set in Belfast during the 1975 IRA ceasefire, the first feature centered on Loyalist paramilitaries, adapted from Daniel Mornin's novel All Our Fault, starring James Frain, Ian Hart, and John Lynch.", "snippet": "Nothing Personal (1995), originally titled Fanatic Heart, is a Thaddeus O'Sullivan drama set in Belfast during the 1975 IRA ceasefire, the first feature centered on Loyalist paramilitaries, adapted from Daniel Mornin's novel All Our Fault, starring James Frain, Ian Hart, and John Lynch.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-late-1990s.yr-1995-1998", "markdown": "# Nothing Personal (1995 film)\n\n**Nothing Personal** is a 1995 drama film directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan, set in Belfast during the ceasefire of 1975 and centered on a group of Loyalist paramilitaries and their Catholic and Protestant victims. It was originally titled *Fanatic Heart*.[1](https://doras.dcu.ie/17345/1/maeve_connolly_20120701121852.pdf) Adapted from Daniel Mornin's novel *All Our Fault*, it was the first feature film to be set among loyalist rather than republican paramilitaries.[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/personal-about-violence-1.46202) • [3](https://www.metrosiliconvalley.com/papers/metro/06.05.97/nothing-personal-9723.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director | Thaddeus O'Sullivan[1](https://doras.dcu.ie/17345/1/maeve_connolly_20120701121852.pdf) |\n| Original title | *Fanatic Heart*[1](https://doras.dcu.ie/17345/1/maeve_connolly_20120701121852.pdf) |\n| Source | Adapted from Daniel Mornin's novel *All Our Fault*; Mornin also wrote the screenplay[3](https://www.metrosiliconvalley.com/papers/metro/06.05.97/nothing-personal-9723.html) • [4](https://www.timeout.com/movies/nothing-personal-1) |\n| Setting | Belfast, 1975, during the ceasefire negotiated between Loyalist and Republican factions[1](https://doras.dcu.ie/17345/1/maeve_connolly_20120701121852.pdf) • [5](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/nothing-personal/2030009461/) |\n| Principal cast | James Frain (Kenny), Ian Hart (Ginger), John Lynch (Liam), Michael Gambon (Leonard), Gary Lydon (Eddie)[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1076743-nothing_personal) |\n| Producers | Tracey Seaward and Jonathan Cavendish; production company Little Bird[7](https://www.screenireland.ie/images/uploads/general/IFB_2016_Annual_Report.pdf) |\n| Recognition | Ian Hart won the Volpi Cup for Best Supporting Actor at the 1995 Venice Film Festival[8](https://sinekatalog.com/en/films/nothing-personal.html) • [20](https://www.labiennale.org/en/history-venice-film-festival) |\n| US release | Trimark Pictures, 1997; R rating; runtime 1h 26m[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-30-ca-53730-story.html) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1076743-nothing_personal) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and setting\n\nThe film takes place over 24 hours in Belfast in 1975, on the eve of a ceasefire brokered by Loyalist and Republican leaders. Kenny (James Frain) is a Loyalist hitman who is starting to question whether a life of violence is right for him, while Ginger ([Ian Hart](https://www.edgepedia.org/ian-hart)), the man who serves as his second-in-command, is a deranged murderer who dismembers the people he kills. Amid the ongoing violence, a Catholic man, Liam Kelly (John Lynch), is raising his two young children.[10](https://thesis.ncad.ie/T2111_A%20question%20of%20identity%20Northern%20Irish%20communities%20in%20Irish%20cinema_NC00211532.pdf)\n\nThe action begins with the bombing of a Protestant bar by the IRA, in which several people are killed. Hours later, Protestant fighters Kenny and Ginger retaliate by killing a Catholic, starting a full-scale riot. Liam, a Catholic single father, tries to help the victims of the fighting but finds himself on the wrong side of the Protestant-Catholic divide.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1076743-nothing_personal) Kenny and Liam were childhood friends, and Kenny tries to save Liam from Ginger's rage after Liam is injured in the fray and captured by Kenny's men.[11](https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/4758?id=4758) The film opens with a quote from Yeats's poem \"The Second Coming\".[3](https://www.metrosiliconvalley.com/papers/metro/06.05.97/nothing-personal-9723.html)\n\n## Production and funding\n\nO'Sullivan, an Irish director whose earlier features include *December Bride*, had received relatively little support from the Irish film funding bodies until Bord Scannán na hÉireann (the Irish Film Board) funded *Nothing Personal* in 1995.[1](https://doras.dcu.ie/17345/1/maeve_connolly_20120701121852.pdf) The film was co-financed by the Irish Film Board, Section 35, and [Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4), with the participation of British Screen and Little Bird Productions.[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/personal-about-violence-1.46202) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-30-ca-53730-story.html) The Irish Film Board's records list the production as *Nothing Personal* 1994/95, directed by O'Sullivan, produced by Tracey Seaward and [Jonathan Cavendish](https://www.edgepedia.org/jonathan-cavendish), with a script by Danny Mornin and Little Bird as the production company.[7](https://www.screenireland.ie/images/uploads/general/IFB_2016_Annual_Report.pdf)\n\nDuring shooting, O'Sullivan took his two English actors, James Frain and Ian Hart, on an evening pub crawl through Belfast's Shankill Road area, overseen by two local Protestant minders, so they could observe the environment their characters moved in. John Lynch, who was born and raised in South Armagh and lived there from 1969 to 1981, needed no such introduction.[12](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/a-face-in-the-crowd-1.32908)\n\nO'Sullivan rejected any suggestion that the film \"uses Northern Ireland as a backdrop\" and cited Gillo Pontecorvo's *The Battle of Algiers* (1965) as a point of reference; the closing credits carry an acknowledgement to that film.[1](https://doras.dcu.ie/17345/1/maeve_connolly_20120701121852.pdf) • [2](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/personal-about-violence-1.46202) He described his motivation directly: \"The film is about Loyalists... what they're doing and why they're doing it, but the film is very angry about the loss of innocent life and that's why I made it.\"[10](https://thesis.ncad.ie/T2111_A%20question%20of%20identity%20Northern%20Irish%20communities%20in%20Irish%20cinema_NC00211532.pdf)\n\n## Release and reception\n\nThe film premiered in 1995 and screened at the [Venice Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/venice-film-festival), where it won prizes; Ian Hart received the Volpi Cup for Best Supporting Actor.[8](https://sinekatalog.com/en/films/nothing-personal.html) • [13](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-eye-wide-angle-5595514.html) • [20](https://www.labiennale.org/en/history-venice-film-festival) It also screened at the [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival) in late January 1996, one of two Irish pictures there dealing with the Troubles.[14](https://www.irishamerica.com/2025/04/the-irish-at-sundance/) Despite the Channel Four funding, it was not widely distributed.[1](https://doras.dcu.ie/17345/1/maeve_connolly_20120701121852.pdf) In Britain it was held over since May before release in October 1996, deliberately timed apart from the Hollywood biopic *Michael Collins*, which both films' makers feared could inflame tensions.[13](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-eye-wide-angle-5595514.html) Trimark Pictures released it in the United States in 1997.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-30-ca-53730-story.html)\n\nCritical response was mixed to favorable. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a Tomatometer score of 53 percent from three reviews, and its United States gross was about $5.6 thousand.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1076743-nothing_personal) [David Stratton](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-stratton)'s review for Variety called it \"a totally riveting drama rigorously directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan\" and \"in no way an exploitative production\", while warning that its single-minded concentration on violence might be too confrontational for some audiences.[15](https://letterboxd.com/margaret_david/film/nothing-personal-1995/) The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle wrote that the violence is \"so honest and intentional that it doesn't numb the viewer but invites an emotional response\".[16](https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Mayhem-Nothing-Personal-Strong-honest-tale-2840772.php) Time Out judged it engaging and well acted, with a \"tooth-and-nails psycho turn from Ian Hart\", but criticized the plot as schematic.[4](https://www.timeout.com/movies/nothing-personal-1) Later retrospective commentary has treated it as a neglected film; the critic Shlomo Schwartzberg, a Toronto-based film critic and arts journalist, argued in 2012 that it balances the personal and the political better than the comparably themed *In the Name of the Father*.[17](https://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2012/05/neglected-gem-12-nothing-personal-1995.html)\n\n## Place in Troubles cinema\n\nBecause it was the first feature set among loyalist rather than republican paramilitaries, the film faced questions about whether it oversimplified or decontextualized the causes of political violence in [Northern Ireland](https://www.edgepedia.org/northern-ireland), as critics had charged against productions such as *Cal* and *The Crying Game*. O'Sullivan insisted this was not the case.[2](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/personal-about-violence-1.46202) Scholars of Northern Irish film have grouped it with *The Boxer* ([Jim Sheridan](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-sheridan), 1997) and *Resurrection Man* ([Marc Evans](https://www.edgepedia.org/marc-evans), 1997) as \"ceasefire cinema\", films made after the 1994 ceasefires in which a call for peace is undermined by fatalism and a sense of enclosure in claustrophobic worlds.[18](https://real-j.mtak.hu/24609/1/ACTA-FilmAndMediaStudies-Vol%2022_2022.pdf) A University of Ulster study of filmic representations of the British-Irish conflict since the 1994 ceasefires includes it among the late-1990s films that moved beyond Troubles stereotypes toward more nuanced approaches.[19](https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/filmic-representations-of-the-british-irish-conflict-since-the-ce-3/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Maeve Connolly, dissertation chapter on Thaddeus O'Sullivan, Dublin City University](https://doras.dcu.ie/17345/1/maeve_connolly_20120701121852.pdf)\n2. [Hugh Linehan, \"Personal about violence\", The Irish Times, 4 May 1996](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/personal-about-violence-1.46202)\n3. [Richard von Busack, \"It's everyone's fault in Thaddeus O'Sullivan's 'Nothing Personal'\", Metro, 5 June 1997](https://www.metrosiliconvalley.com/papers/metro/06.05.97/nothing-personal-9723.html)\n4. [Nothing Personal review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/nothing-personal-1)\n5. [Nothing Personal, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/nothing-personal/2030009461/)\n6. [Nothing Personal, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1076743-nothing_personal)\n7. [Bord Scannán na hÉireann / Irish Film Board Annual Report 2016](https://www.screenireland.ie/images/uploads/general/IFB_2016_Annual_Report.pdf)\n8. [Nothing Personal, Sinekatalog](https://sinekatalog.com/en/films/nothing-personal.html)\n9. [\"The Troubles of Ireland's Soul Made 'Personal'\", Los Angeles Times, 30 April 1997](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-30-ca-53730-story.html)\n10. [\"A Question of Identity: Northern Irish Communities in Irish Cinema\", NCAD thesis](https://thesis.ncad.ie/T2111_A%20question%20of%20identity%20Northern%20Irish%20communities%20in%20Irish%20cinema_NC00211532.pdf)\n11. [Nothing Personal film review, Spirituality & Practice](https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/4758?id=4758)\n12. [Eileen Battersby, \"A face in the crowd\", The Irish Times, 2 March 1996](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/a-face-in-the-crowd-1.32908)\n13. [Liese Spencer, \"The Eye Wide Angle\", The Independent, 19 October 1996](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-eye-wide-angle-5595514.html)\n14. [\"The Irish at Sundance\", Irish America](https://www.irishamerica.com/2025/04/the-irish-at-sundance/)\n15. [David Stratton's Variety review via Margaret and David, Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/margaret_david/film/nothing-personal-1995/)\n16. [Mick LaSalle, \"Mayhem 'Nothing Personal'\", San Francisco Chronicle, 9 May 1997](https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Mayhem-Nothing-Personal-Strong-honest-tale-2840772.php)\n17. [Shlomo Schwartzberg, \"Neglected Gem #12: Nothing Personal (1995)\", Critics at Large, 2012](https://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2012/05/neglected-gem-12-nothing-personal-1995.html)\n18. [\"Between Troubles and Peace in Northern Ireland\", Acta Film and Media Studies, 2022](https://real-j.mtak.hu/24609/1/ACTA-FilmAndMediaStudies-Vol%2022_2022.pdf)\n19. [Filmic representations of the British-Irish conflict since the ceasefires of 1994, Ulster University](https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/filmic-representations-of-the-british-irish-conflict-since-the-ce-3/)\n20. [History of the Venice Film Festival](https://www.labiennale.org/en/history-venice-film-festival)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1990s › Drama films late 1990s › Released 1995 to 1998*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/nothing-personal-1995-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/nothing-personal-1995-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Nothing Personal (1995 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/nothing-personal-1995-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Nothing Personal (1995 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/nothing-personal-1995-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/nothing-personal-1995-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/nothing-personal-1995-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Nothing Personal (1995 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/nothing-personal-1995-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Nothing Personal, originally titled Fanatic Heart, is a Thaddeus O'Sullivan drama set in Belfast during the 1975 IRA ceasefire, the first feature centered on Loyalist paramilitaries, adapted from Daniel Mornin's novel All Our Fault, starring James Frain, Ian Hart, and John Lynch." }