Ondine (2009)

We thoroughly enjoyed Irish director/writer Neil Jordan's latest fish tale, starring Colin Farrell as Syracuse, AKA Circus, who finds a beautiful woman, Ondine, alive in his fishing net, and then begins to love her, as does his smart, wheelchair-bound 10-year-old daughter Annie, who lives with her mother but spends plenty of time with her da (not a typo, that's what the Irish say instead of dad). I learned about selkies (mythical Irish mermaids-with-legs) from John Sayles' wonderful The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), and Annie is convinced Ondine is one. Jordan won his Oscar for writing the brilliant The Crying Game (1993) and was nominated for directing it. I also liked his Mona Lisa (1986), and one of my all-time favorites is the very dark comedy The Butcher Boy (1997), adapted by Jordan and Pat McCabe from the novel by McCabe. One reviewer asked if there is any role that Farrell (after I chose my faves in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, he had a cameo in Crazy Heart) can't play? Don't know of any yet. Young Alison Barry is adorable in her debut as Annie. Ondine is played by Alicja Bachleda (new to me, she has a number of credits in Poland), and she and Farrell are now an item after they met on this movie. The score is by Kjartan Sveinsson, keyboardist of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós, and the music is fabulous (also including songs by Lisa Hannigan). I hope to see a soundtrack CD one of these days, but it's not showing up now. Here's one song, which is supposed to be the tune that Ondine sings (though I can't for the life of me pick out in that clip the first five notes - mi so mi re do - which I thought she sang repeatedly), and in this link Jordan discusses Bachleda's singing it herself (her soprano voice is gorgeous).

Stephen Rea, a Jordan regular (Oscar nominated for The Crying Game, he's been in all of Jordan's movies, as well as plenty more directed by others), brings warmth and humor to his character of the priest. David emailed me about this movie, quoting his favorite line, "Misery is easy...happiness you have to work at," which is said by Rea. David also said the accents gave him some trouble at first, which is saying something, since he is Scotland-born and raised. Because he likely saw it at a theatre in L.A. with a good sound system, it must have been the sound mix. Jack and I certainly had trouble understanding all the words. The photography, by Christopher Doyle (his varied work includes Happy Together (1997) and In the Mood for Love (2000) for Wong Kar Wai, Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) for Philip Noyce, and Made (2001) for Jon Favreau, among many), is beautifully gray (the entire movie was shot in County Cork, Ireland). I felt cold upon leaving the theatre, due in no small part to watching many swims in the sea, when the dry characters are wearing coats and hats.

One reviewer on amazon gives some background on selkies and ondines, without spoilers. I have, so far, seen this movie 1½ times. The half came first: it was on video-on-demand on our plane from Lima to Houston in July and the video system (luckily not the plane) crashed. I may see it again, with closed captions, to get the dialogue I missed the other times. The DVD will be released later this month, so I will have a chance soon. I recommend you see it, too, one way or the other.