Breathnach's low-budget debut feature, the sparse Ailsa, has been unduly neglected. It relates an atmospheric, somber tale of obsessive love inspired by Germanic style. Brendan Coyle is excellent as a young man whose ordinary life is permanently shocked after he discovers his landlord electrocuted in his bathtub. He becomes fascinated by a new woman tenant and fixated on the vacant apartment, his curiosity developing into psychosis. Written by Joe O'Connor from his short story, in the collection True Believers, the film won the Nuevos Realizadores at the 1994 San Sebastian International Film Festival.