It was a heckuva Sundance Film Festival for Saoirse Ronan. We told you last week that she was there promoting her Irish film Brooklyn, based on Colm Toibin’s novel – and this week she’s sitting pretty because of the glowing reviews which prompted Fox Searchlight to acquire the distribution rights for $9 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a Sundance film.

“Ronan works wonders with this exceptional transitional role,” gushed The Hollywood Reporter, and a host of others joined the chorus. “[Ronan] proves herself more than capable throughout, doing a humble kind of star turn that augurs a long career full of interesting, well-chosen work,” raved Vanity Fair.

Fox Searchlight clearly has high hopes for the film about an Irish immigrant girl in New York in the 1950s who returns home and is torn between two places. It will be released sometime this year.

“We were overwhelmed by this epic film – the impeccable direction, the flawless attention to detail and Saoirse’s heartbreaking performance of Eilis’ emotional journey. This film is the kind of classic love story that audiences yearn for and is so often missing from today’s world,” said execs in a press release announcing the deal.