This week we’re traveling back to 2007, tuning up a battered guitar, wheeling a broken vacuum through Dublin, and discovering how much can change when two strangers find the right chord. Written and directed by John Carney, Once stars Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová as an Irish busker and a Czech immigrant whose chance meeting becomes an intensely personal songwriting partnership. Did this modest little melody still strike an emotional chord, or is it barely worth watching… Once?
Official Release Dates: Premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2006; opened in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2007, and began its United States theatrical run on May 16, 2007.
Other Notable ProjectsJohn Carney
The Commitments: Carney played bass for The Frames, whose frontman Hansard had appeared in Alan Parker’s Dublin-set musical drama. That shared musical world helped lead to Once.
Begin Again: Carney revisited the connection between songwriting and emotional recovery on a much larger American production starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo.
Sing Street: Perhaps his clearest thematic companion to Once, following young musicians who use a band to imagine a more hopeful life.
Flora and Son: Another Dublin story in which music becomes a means of connection, reconciliation and self-expression. Sundance characterized it as continuing Carney’s recurring interest in the refuge offered by songwriting.
Glen Hansard
The Commitments: Hansard played guitarist Outspan Foster, his most notable screen role before Once.
The Frames: His long-running Irish rock band established the emotionally forceful performance style that Once translated to film.
The Swell Season: His collaboration with Irglová extended beyond the movie into albums and international touring.
Solo career: Albums including Rhythm and Repose, Didn’t He Ramble and This Wild Willing allowed him to continue exploring the emotionally direct songwriting that made Once resonate.
Hansard died in July 2026 at age 56 following a motorcycle crash in Dublin. His work with The Frames, Irglová and Dublin’s annual charitable Christmas busk became central to the tributes that followed.
Markéta Irglová
The Swell Season: The real musical partnership behind the film continued through recordings and touring.
Anar: Her first solo album established a more atmospheric and introspective identity beyond the Once phenomenon.
Muna and Lila: Later records further developed her work as a songwriter, composer and independent artist.
The Once stage legacy: Although she did not play Girl in the Broadway production, the songs she co-created became the emotional and commercial foundation of the adaptation.
Hugh Walsh
Walsh, who plays the drummer during the recording sessions, was part of the group of musicians whose relaxed performances help the studio sequence feel less like a collection of supporting actors and more like an actual band finding its sound.
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