In case you don't see it coming from a mile away, as I did, I should warn you that this review spoils, in a very vague sense, the ending of the film. Don't read on if you care to go into the movie with unfettered expectations.
_Ondine_ is a fine film, with excellent cinematography, good acting all-around (including from the young lady playing the child of Colin Farrell's wry protagonist; believable child acting is a rarity, so this was a joy), and all the little details you look for to establish the setting firmly in your mind.
It's the core premise which falls a little flat, by the time you reach the too-trite conclusion. At the beginning of the film, Syracuse, a lone fisherman (Farrell) pulls a woman up from the water in his net. She's still alive, and he resuscitates her. She apparently has no memory of her life, and Syracuse's young daughter (on dialysis for kidney failure), who is a precocious bookworm, quickly draws the conclusion that she is not a human, but a selkie, a mythological creature which is essentially a seal who sheds its skin to become human for a time.
A variety of seemingly-magical occurrences happen; it's unclear whether they are mere coincidence, or actual magic.
By the end of the movie, of course, it becomes clear that there is no magic, except for the purely metaphorical/thematic kind; merely mundane happenstance.
Maybe it's just me, but when I sit down to watch a fantasy, I want it to actually be a fantasy. This film is not, not really. It's a romantic drama. The mundane explanation for how "Ondine" came into Syracuse's life in such an unusual fashion could have been anything; the specifics aren't particularly important.
What's important is that a film set up to be a fantastic tragedy is instead a (in the classical, not humorous, sense) mundane comedy.
And that's a shame. There were conflicts and themes which could have been explored more fully here if the filmmakers had not been so insistent on trying (and failing) to fool the viewer into thinking it might be a fantasy film instead of a drama. Alternatively, if they were really set on the fantasy premise, they could have fleshed that out more fully and turned it into the full-blown magical tragedy the premise cries out (at least, to me) for.
Still. There's a quiet appeal to these characters and their interactions. A nice balance between the ugliness of reality and the fancifulness of the world of story. It's such a well-made and charming film that it's impossible for me to dislike it.
I just can't love it. It could have been so much more.
_Ondine_ is a fine film, with excellent cinematography, good acting all-around (including from the young lady playing the child of Colin Farrell's wry protagonist; believable child acting is a rarity, so this was a joy), and all the little details you look for to establish the setting firmly in your mind.
It's the core premise which falls a little flat, by the time you reach the too-trite conclusion. At the beginning of the film, Syracuse, a lone fisherman (Farrell) pulls a woman up from the water in his net. She's still alive, and he resuscitates her. She apparently has no memory of her life, and Syracuse's young daughter (on dialysis for kidney failure), who is a precocious bookworm, quickly draws the conclusion that she is not a human, but a selkie, a mythological creature which is essentially a seal who sheds its skin to become human for a time.
A variety of seemingly-magical occurrences happen; it's unclear whether they are mere coincidence, or actual magic.
By the end of the movie, of course, it becomes clear that there is no magic, except for the purely metaphorical/thematic kind; merely mundane happenstance.
Maybe it's just me, but when I sit down to watch a fantasy, I want it to actually be a fantasy. This film is not, not really. It's a romantic drama. The mundane explanation for how "Ondine" came into Syracuse's life in such an unusual fashion could have been anything; the specifics aren't particularly important.
What's important is that a film set up to be a fantastic tragedy is instead a (in the classical, not humorous, sense) mundane comedy.
And that's a shame. There were conflicts and themes which could have been explored more fully here if the filmmakers had not been so insistent on trying (and failing) to fool the viewer into thinking it might be a fantasy film instead of a drama. Alternatively, if they were really set on the fantasy premise, they could have fleshed that out more fully and turned it into the full-blown magical tragedy the premise cries out (at least, to me) for.
Still. There's a quiet appeal to these characters and their interactions. A nice balance between the ugliness of reality and the fancifulness of the world of story. It's such a well-made and charming film that it's impossible for me to dislike it.
I just can't love it. It could have been so much more.