Felicia, mein Engel

Felicia's Journey was the closing film of this year's Galway Film Fleadh (Gaelic: Festival).Based on a story by Ireland's premiere short story writer William Trevor, Felicia's Journey is one of the most terrifying thrillers made this decade. So disturbed were some of the viewers that they refused to applaud the movie - "That was to freaky", said a local movie buff, "I didn't need to see that". The movie begins by fooling the audience. It starts as a bittersweet tale of a young Irish girl (Elaine Cassidy) who sleeps with a British Army soldier and is shunned by her family. She is exiled to Birmingham, England, where she meets Joe, a kindly old man (Bob Hoskins). So far, a pretty typical poignant Irish drama. Suddenly, some rapid editing and jolting images reveal that Joe ain't so sweet. In fact he's one of the most vicious, despicable psychopaths you'll ever seen on screen. The mood is extremely fearful for the remainder as Elaine Cassidy's perfect rendition of an innocent Irish Catholic girl screams out for help. Hoskins has played the best role of his life of a tortured, gentle, caring, sick, evil but very human man. His performance is only comparable to Peter Lorre in Fritz Lang's M. Excellent editing and and a complex, skillful score contribute to making this one of the movies of the year and a classic of the thriller genre. Don't see it unless you have the nerve.

Angel-faced Elaine Cassidy is suitably innocent as an unwed Irish teen naively searching England for the boyfriend who deserts her, and Bob Hoskins is effectively controlled and creepy as the serial-killing caterer who comes to her "assistance"; but this is a mostly uncomfortable smashing together of coming-of-age drama and "Silence of the Lambs". At times the film has a mesmerizing pull, but director Egoyan too often stalls things with needless flashbacks that provide information the audience has already come to understand, or tries to invest trite scenes with a revelatory significance that just isn't there. It climaxes awkwardly and absurdly with a delirious depiction of two religious crusaders being more monstrous than Hoskins' character himself.

Egoyan labors to establish some pre-conscious link between the girl and the killer, contrasting Hilditch's (Hoskins) warped, twisted innocence with Felicia's pure, unspoiled variety. He just can't quite pull it off though, as there is no escaping the conviction that what Hilditch has been doing (luring unhappy girls into his car, befriending them on videotape, then killing them) is repugnant beyond comprehension. In fact, that is probably the most tired, hoary theme in movies today: that the seemingly cold-blooded killer or assassin or whatever is "just doing his job" or is "really no different than you or me". Oh really? How fascinating.

Despite Egoyan's sumptuous visuals, I found myself focusing on the many plot holes due to his studied (some have found it hypnotic) pacing. How in the world did Hilditch attach a name to a face when it comes to tracking down Felicia's boyfriend? Why doesn't the boyfriend recognize Felicia at the pub? How can Hilditch be sure that Felicia wouldn't suspect him as the person who stole her money? True, she's gullible and trusting but he WAS alone with her bag in the car. There's no way he could've known she'd leave her bag out of sight anywhere else; in fact it's highly unlikely that she would. And why in the world don't the abducted girls he's giving rides to just escape by jumping out of his car? You can clearly see on the videotapes that he's driving slowly in populated areas, and you never see him using a gun. These are the sorts of things that really stand out when the central story isn't quite working.

"Felicia's Journey" certainly isn't a total failure and I admire some of the chances it takes, but ultimately it fails to work because the two approaches are at odds with each other. That is, the microscopically observed psychological "stuff" dehydrates the thriller elements (and at times, the movie is clearly trying to pump up the suspense and WANTS to be a nail-biter) and the thriller elements trivialize the dramatic breakthroughs.

Egoyan has disappointed me many previous times, although his "Next of Kin" remains one of my all-time favorite films. Not in a thousand years would I have expected a film like this from Egoyan. We've left Canada, for god's sake; a lovely country, some very talented and multi-talented people there, especially most -- it often seems to me -- of Hollywood's greatest actors and actresses. But to travel across the Atlantic -- Egoyan hasn't done that before. And this plot is character-driven (like "Next of Kin") -- and not always shouting at you "Hey, I'm a strange and brilliant director presenting all this odd stuff for you." Egoyan's penchant for films within films and pictures within pictures and other eccentricities don't distract,this time -- they remain, but much diminished, muted. And it works. Tremendously well, in fact. Families -- that's what Egoyan does best, what he knows most deeply -- how wonderful it is when they work, how deeply we need their sustenance. But how terrible, cruel, sometimes funny, but more often monstrous the effects parents have on their children in so many cases. Hoskins has been so great, so often before, can it really be surprising he's especially excellent here? A fine film; the old Peter Lorre film "M" comes to mind, his role somewhat comparable to Hoskins' here -- but many differences exist between these works. "Felicia's Journey" is amazingly beautiful to watch, idyllic at times; we see Felicia's inner and outer beauty first through our own eyes, then increasingly through Hoskins' character's odd lens. There's beautiful countryside to view. We have both hope and menace -- something slightly askew -- a spicy mix. The mundane, the commonplace are pleasantly present, but murder and madness hover very near. Entirely, hypnotically compelling; that's the best summation. And wonderful.

For as far as I know this was the very first movie that I've seen from Atom Egoyan. I had heard his name before and I knew that the movies he makes are often very good, but you just can't see them all, can you? Still, I'm glad that I finally got to see one and I must say that I'm already a fan of his work. If his other movies are as good as this one, than I almost can't wait to see those too.

The title "Felicia's Journey" already tells something about what to expect from this movie. It tells the story of an Irish girl that is making her way from Ireland to England, to find her boyfriend who moved there to get a job in a lawn-mower factory. On arrival she meets a lonely middle-aged catering manager, called Hilditch, who recommends a boarding room to her. But Hilditch is a bit of a strange man. Even though he seems very nice and polite, he's always alone and seems to spend hours on studying tapes of an eccentric TV chef called Gala. Gradually we learn that the man has a much darker side than what we and Felicia at first assume...

Even though he could easily have made a horror movie out of this subject or perhaps even worse, a TV-movie (it has something to do with having a bad youth, murder,...), Atom Egoyan has made the excellent choice of focusing on the drama and studying the characters with flashbacks. And by only slowly allowing the viewer to get some new information, rather than to give away everything at once, he builds up tension very well. But a good story isn't enough to make a good movie of course, some fine performances by all the actors are needed as well. Despite the fact that I didn't really know Elaine Cassidy (I only saw her play in "The Others" before), I must say that she is a pleasant surprise. She really did a very nice and convincing job with this role. The same can be said about Bob Hoskins. Him I know a lot better, but he too surprised me. He was so good in his role as Hilditch, that it took me quite some time to believe that it was really this man who did those horrible things.

Overall this is a very fine movie with some excellent performances and a very interesting story. I'm convinced that there will be several people who will not like it for several reasons, but personally I liked it a lot. For me it wasn't too slow and I stayed focused from beginning until the end. And as this movie shows, you always have to be patient. Its power doesn't lie in the beginning or in the middle. Only when it is finished, you'll fully understand what has happened. That's why I give this movie a rating in between 7.5/10 and 8/10.

If I had to make a top five list of the most consistent of contemporary film directors, then Atom Egoyan would certainly be included.

Felicia's Journey adds another notch to a terrific portfolio of films. Yes this film could of trimmed ten minutes from the sagging middle section, and also lost the seemingly tacked-on epilogue.

Those points aside, it's still far superior to practically all other films on offer. Dealing with his familiar pre-occupations with family disfunctionality, sexuality and videotape, Egoyan coaxes Bob Hoskins into the most subtle and mesmeric performance of his career.

Felicia's Journey is quality work for mature audiences.