Ondine - Das Mädchen aus dem Meer

Everything about Neil Jordan's Ondine, a middling good and very Irish expression of his unique vision, is soft around the edges, like the lilting speech of County Cork, where the action takes place, by the sea, whose gentle waters (hithering and thithering waters of, Joyce called the Liffey) deliver a girl into a fisherman's net. Is she a real girl ("one of those asylum seekers," her finder asks) or a selkie or an ondine, a sea nymph, a mermaid temporarily gone human? The distinctions have gone blurry, and the movie swings between fairy tale and a harsh account of modern realities. Ondine succeeds or fails by virtue of its gentleness and deliberately blurred distinctions. It's a nice little story but a fragile one, so understated and gentle it could pass unnoticed if you don't pay good attention; and the accents are so thick we could have very much benefited by having subtitles. Once again it shows this director remains his own man, true to his literary roots and his Irish ones when he wants to be.

The fisherman is Syracuse (Colin Farrell), but his name has been rounded off to "Circus," and Farrell has softened back his voice to an (often incomprehensible) Irish murmur. He says they call him "Circus" because as a drunk he was such a clown. He's been sober for two years, ten months, and 21 days and counting, but he's treading water, in need of something. Circus has a daughter, Annie, whom he cares for, but she lives with her mother, and he lives by himself, and he's too warm and friendly a fellow for that to be right for him. He lives on the edge, a bit uneasily, between sobriety and drunkenness, solitude and a marital state, happiness and bitter disappointment. When he pulls the mysterious female out of the water, she offers hope of something new.

Neil Jordan has always had a gift for transformation and blurred edges. In his very first film, a mild-mannered musician, played by Stephen Rea, changes into a revenge killer, his trumpet morphed into a gun. A Jordan regular forever after and virtually his muse, Rea has been described by Todd McCarthy in terms of ambiguity: "handsome-homely, decisive-passive, gentle-violent." It's true you don't know quite how to take Stephen Rea half the time, and that's the beauty of him. Jordan's most celebrated film, The Crying Game, veers with pleasing and surprising complexity between opposites of sex and politics, keynoted by the fascinatingly androgynous Jaye Davidson. The Irish novelist-turned-auteur filmmaker has dealt in the past with mythical transforming creatures in Interview with the Vampire and In the Company of Wolves.

Ondine is in a lower key, however. The shapely and mysterious young woman Circus catches in his net (Alicja Bachleda, a Polish actress born in Mexico) can't be pinned down. Not, at least, till till the action finale, which brings things to a conclusion with a series of happy accidents. As Circus may have hoped, she becomes a source of luck. Ondine is what she says her name is. When she goes out fishing with Circus, her singing seems to fill his pots with lobsters and his net with salmon. He desires her. He likes dressing her up in nice clothes. When the two of them make wishes, Ondine wishes for Annie to get well. Circus wishes for Ondine to stay. She doesn't want to be seen and he hides her in an isolated cottage once occupied by his late lamented mother.

The plucky, smart, and over-imaginative young Annie (Alison Barry) goes to the library and studies up on selkies. She rolls around in a wheelchair that gets stuck in the water at one point. While she's the most threatened -- she could die at virtually any moment -- Annie is, paradoxically, the strongest person around. The wheelchair she has to travel in hides that her feet are planted firmly on the ground. She's also like a sea-nymph herself, surviving life on earth uncertainly, only by constant dialysis sessions. Of course Stephen Rea is here, and this time he's a Catholic priest. Circus goes to him for confession, but not quite confession: he seems to confuse his sessions with the good Father with AA meetings. These are moments of contemplation, as are, perhaps, Circus' attempts to tell Annie a fairy tale based on what he's actually experienced, but there's a feeling that events are moving forward rapidly and strangely. "Curiouser and curiouser," Anne repeats, echoing Lewis Carroll. But really things are in a slow drift, till the end comes and they're rushed to a conclusion.

That final revelation when bad men turn up may not be so surprising, but what remains of Ondine is its delicacy and sweetness. Ondine herself does seem for a while a creature of the sea, in a very down-to-water fashion. She likes to get wet in the sea. She sets the fashion of wearing thin, wet dresses and she looks great in them, though there's a voyeuristic note in those scenes, as if she's just being posed to titillate the audience. The film seems, not for the first time in Neil Jordan's work, to be more interested in atmosphere than anything else; there's plenty of that, but not much depth in the characters or the action. Jordan pays good attention to his visuals and brings in the best d.p.'s to help him. That first film was shot by Chris Menges and this one by Christopher Doyle. The appropriately feathery camera-work never strikes a note of Irish Tourist Office cliché. Too bad the images, though soft and blurry, are clearer than the dialogue.

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old tale. and its new pieces. a film about heart of solitude, force of myth, beauty of faith. and love as arena of freedom. mystery, legend, the image of a child about a woman, a fisherman with many problems and a kind of spell. a not special movie with science to give crumbs of delicate emotions and to make a legend more profound. not very right in details but exercise of good art to create emotion. and nice occasion to understand the limits of reality as fruit of dream. a interesting surprise - role of Colin Farell. a smart way to sustain drawing of character - dialogs with the priest and circle of past. delicate solution to create a gray world with fragile borders. inspired music and images. a good movie. not extraordinary. just beautiful. like each slice of life.

I did not expect this... SUPER film which is a hidden gem. So enjoyed the story- gives hope for the lost soul's of the world. A must see for anyone who enjoys luck and tragedy crossing paths and resulting in a feel good ending. I would buy this in a heartbeat.

I was intrigued from the beginning and can see why it was nominated for awards. Have no idea why it did not do better in the box office? Perhaps this was just not marketed correctly...

For parents... the rating is about right. Young teens would probably enjoy this, but may be a hair heavy for the under 10 crowd.

Final note- I would watch it again and enjoy it just the same if not more.

I respond well to movies with honesty and heart, and Ondine has plenty of both. Set in an Irish fishing town, you can also feel the love and respect of the filmmaker for the rugged and beautiful setting. The performances are excellent, with especially good work by the the young Alison Barry playing the part of Colin Farrell's daughter, who suffers from kidney failure and must undergo regular dialysis (reminded me of the early work of Dakota Fanning).

The film's "feel" is a bit darker than I expected, making the injections of wry Irish humor in Colin's confessions to the priest (played by Stephen Rea) even more enjoyable. The script keeps you wondering until very near the end, "Is this really a modern fairy tale, or is there a more earthly explanation?" The soundtrack is appropriately plaintive, with songs by Lisa Hannigan and others. I definitely plan to buy the soundtrack. Because this film is low-key and thoughtful, it probably will not receive the attention from audiences it deserves. But serious moviegoers should take the time to watch, enjoy and appreciate.

I know the myth of Ondine from the eponymous ballet. Let's just say this version is a bit more upbeat. Although there is a sense of foreboding through much of the film, this film's story of hope, love and belief is ultimately tender and optimistic.

The story begins when an Irish fisherman pulls up a young woman in his net. His daughter believes her to be a mythical creature, the young woman plays the role convincingly, and the fisherman just takes it day by day as most recovering alcoholics do, experiencing the young woman as a lucky charm and sexually entrancing...then danger begins to lurk. Ensuing plot twists further develop the characters, and their actions and fates are congruent with their personalities.

Colin Farrell is perfect for the role of an imperfect man who makes the best of adversity. Alicja Bachleda is convincing as a mysterious, frightened, resourceful but not entirely innocent creature. Alison Barry conveys strength not pathos in the role of a young girl who is more intelligent and thoughtful than her peers from a life spent in medical treatments.