Product Details

• Actors: Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: September 21, 2010
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003LL3FIY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,694 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Colin Farrell shows his soulful side in Ondine, a lovely Irish drama from director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Breakfast on Pluto). Syracuse (Farrell), a down-on-his-luck fisherman called Circus by friends and foes alike due to his formerly boozy ways, pulls up his net one morning to find a beautiful, near-drowned woman in it. She calls herself Ondine (Polish actress Alicja Bachleda) and Syracuse's daughter Annie (charming newcomer Alison Barry) thinks she's a selkie (a seal that's taken human form and can grant wishes). Ondine is happy to feed Annie's fantasies, and Syracuse is pretty convinced himself--but things take a dark turn as Annie's illness and Ondine's past intrude on this sweet fantasy. Ondine has a different feel than typical Hollywood fare; events that in most movies would be hyped and emphasized (such as a plot-turning car crash) here pass with jolting swiftness. Instead, Ondine lingers on the interplay between a sad father and a yearning daughter, between a lonely man and a lost woman. The movie builds a rich and deeply felt web of relationships--when the story takes hold, you'll be all the more gripped as a result. Featuring a delightful comic turn by Stephen Rea (V for Vendetta) as a skeptical priest. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

ONDINE is the story of Syracuse, a simple fisherman who catches a beautiful and mysterious woman in his trawler nets. The woman seems to be dead, but then she comes alive before Syracuse s eyes, and he thinks he may be seeing things. However, with the help of his irrepressible daughter, Annie, he comes to believe that the fantastical might be possible and that the woman (Ondine) might be a myth come true. Ondine and Syracuse fall passionately in love, but just as we think the fairytale might go on forever, the real world intercedes.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

118 of 121 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Explaining Happenstance with Mythology June 14, 2010

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

According to the dictionary an 'ondine is a water nymph or water spirit, the elemental of water. They are usually found in forest pools and waterfalls. They have beautiful voices, which are sometimes heard over the sound of water. According to some legends, ondines cannot get a soul unless they marry a man and bear him a child. This aspect has led them to be a popular motif in romantic and tragic literature.' Another bit of background information that aids the viewer of this little rarity of a film, ONDINE, is the bit of folklore often referred to in the film - that Ondine is a 'selkie': 'In Irish folklore, there are many stories about creatures who can transform themselves from seals to humans. These beings are called selkies. The seals would come up onto rocks or beaches and take off their skins, revealing the humans underneath. There is no agreement among the stories of how often they could make this transformation. Some say it was once a year on Midsummer's Eve, while others say it could be every ninth night. Once ashore, the selkies were said to dance and sing in the moonlight. One of the most common themes found in selkie folklore is romantic tragedy. Selkie women were supposed to be so beautiful that no man could resist them. They were said to have perfect proportions and dark hair. They also made excellent wives. For this reason, one of the most common selkie stories is that of a man stealing a selkie woman's sealskin. Without her skin, she cannot return to the sea, and so she marries the human man and has children with him. She is a good wife and mother, but because her true home is in the sea, she always longs for it. In the stories, she ends up finding her sealskin that her husband has hidden, or one of her children unwittingly finds it and brings it to her.... According to legend, once a selkie find her skin again, neither chains of steel nor chains of love can keep her from the sea. She returns to the ocean, usually leaving her children behind with their grief-stricken father'.

All of this information may seem redundant, but when a beautiful little film such as ONDINE, written and directed by the always excellent Neil Jordan, knowing the background helps support the manner in which the story is told and revealed. Syracuse (Colin Farrell) is a recovering alcoholic fisherman whose alcoholic wife has custody of his beloved daughter Annie (Allison Barry) who because of renal failure must be dialyzed frequently and spend her days in a motorized wheelchair while she awaits a kidney transplant. Syracuse focuses his life on Annie - until one day while fishing he brings up a beautiful girl in his nets, a frightened girl named Ondine (Alicja Bachleda, a brilliant Polish actress and singer from Mexico) who fears being seen by anyone. Syracuse protects and clothes her and secludes her in his dead mothers shack by the sea - until Annie discovers her, having researched everything she could fine at the library about the selkies. Annie decides Ondine is selkie who must bury her seal coat in the earth and thus gain seven years on land without having return to the sea. With this mixture of myth and reality the story moves along at a gentle pace: Syracuse frequents the priest (Stephen Rea) confessional (his only available semblance of an AA stabilizer in his small village), Annie and Ondine bond, Syracuse and Ondine fall in love (despite the myth's warning that every selkie has a husband), and the townsfolk begin to accept the strange happiness that has returned to Syracuse's heart. The plot then twists and the realities of the myth become known and the story progresses from a recreation of a mythical romance to the difficulties of a true romance.

The chemistry between Farrell and Bachleda and Farrell and Barry is extraordinary and palpable: they make the film sing. The haunting musical score is by Kjartan Sveinsson and the moody cinematography is by Christopher Doyle. Neil Jordan pulls all of these elements together into a film that will linger in memory - like the song Ondine sings. There have been novels, operas, ballets, and plays written based on this myth, but few capture its mystery the way this film does. It is a quiet little gem of art. Grady Harp, June, 10 Read more ›

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you have a romantic heart - go for this one! June 24, 2010

By Gerard D. Launay TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

So far, one of the two most enchanting movies I have seen this year is "Ondine." [The other enchanting movie is also from Ireland - the impossibly gorgeous animated film titled "The Secret of Kells"]. Ostensibly, "Ondine" is a film about a lonely post alcoholic fisherman who nets a beautiful woman from his boat and saves her life. She insists she wants to be isolated from the world, and the fisherman (Colin Farrell playing the role of "Syracuse") respects her wishes. Her mysteriousness leads him to wonder, and in telling his disabled daughter the story of the event, she imagines that he has captured a selkie - half woman/half seal. The reviewer Grady Harp gives an excellent overview of the selkie legend. Director Neil Jordan goes back to a theme he expertly explored in "The Crying Game" in which a lost man gets a second chance and finds spiritual renewal in a surprise relationship with a woman - or someone who resembles a woman. The chemistry between the male and female leads is palpable but understated - spoken in silences and eyes and gestures.

There are many elements that make this a truly wonderful film experience. There is a lovely soundtrack without overplaying Irish music...the misty Irish sea...the myth of the Selkie...the honest performances from all the principal actors and actresses. Ironically, the real find is Allison Barry as the young daughter with renal failure who is smart, curious, gutsy, and totally believable. She is a welcome change from the teenagers on Disney TV.

Naturally, the fisherman falls in love with the selkie and the obstacles to that romance fill the second half of the film.... Stephen Rea gives a standout performance as an Irish priest who serves as a quiet listener to the fisherman's tale and helps guide him without being overly moralistic.

So for my vote - this IS the chic flic of 2010. The Minneapolis Star Tribune opined "Ondine is so good it hurts." I thoroughly enjoyed it. As a postscript, the song that the selkie sings is truly magical. Read more ›

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite what I was expecting. May 10, 2010

By M. Allen

Format:Amazon Instant Video|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love Irish films and am a huge fan of Colin Farrell and Alicja Bachleda (fantastic in Sommersturm). Ondine is not groundbreaking but it is a nice story with some great cinematography, acting and wardrobes (I especially liked the various clothes that Alicja wore as they complemented her mysterious character). Ondine is not a fairy tale per se but rather a well done character drama that touches on irish mythology in a modern setting. Without giving too much away, I was expecting something along the lines of Secret of Roan Inish (which it's really not) but in the end I was pleased. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good irish flick.

39 of 48 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Alicja is Beautiful....The Accents are Unintelligible....Colin Looks Like a Homeless Vagrant December 6, 2010

By The Jaundiced Eye

Format:DVD

This could have been a very interesting and enjoyable story, except for a few nagging problems. On the plus side, the female lead, Alicja Bachleda, was spectacular...not a scrawny Angelina clone, but an earthy, buxom, beautiful young lady whom I recall from her previous movie, Trade. The swimming scenes in icy water could not have been any fun (for her), but for the male audience, they were riveting.

On the negative side (SPOILER ALERT):

1) How could she survive underwater for a substantial period of time before being captured in the net. To sink, your lungs must be full of water. In "real life" a stunt like this would result in brain damage if not death.

2) How did the drugs, long lost in the open ocean, end up in the tiny inlet where she swam, literally under foot?

3) If the characters were going to mutter their lines with a huge variation of dense accents (British, Irish, Eastern European, etc.), why, for the love of God, could there not be some English subtitles (at least not on the DVD I watched)? For me, about 60% of the dialog was completely incomprehensible.

4) There were way too many inexplicable coincidences, i.e. she sings....he catches tons of salmon and lobsters....why? The writer/director rejects any notion of magic or fantasy, so how do you explain these coincidences?

5) How did the girl swim away with the drugs under the scrutiny of helicopter and boatloads of law enforcement officers? Unless she could hold her breath for an hour or two, she could not have eluded them.

6) I am going to catch hell for this, but why did Colin Farrell have to look like a filthy, greasy-haired vagrant throughout the movie? Is it asking too much for him to clean up just a little for his own wedding?... His grooming and hygiene were a discredit to fishermen the world over, not to mention his soggy, toxic-waste sweater. I have seen far better groomed men living in cardboard boxes under freeway ramps. His character had some good qualities, but ugh!!!

Before you hit the "unhelpful" button and discard this review as nonsense from a mean, deaf, nit-picking old man, please let me explain why these issues trouble me. The movie could have been a fantasy, with no explanations needed or expected, but instead the writer/director chose to give it a real-world basis in harsh reality, and that, I think, was a huge mistake. Trying to provide illogical, downright implausible explanations for fantastical events changes the viewing experience from one of simple emotional enjoyment to one that grates on the common sense of the viewer. You can't have it both ways. It would have been way better without the drug connection....just let her be exactly whom she appears to be, a magical spirit who has come to change the lives of a group of nice, troubled people. Read more ›