Customer Reviews

Ondine

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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

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.

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.

Soft, tender and beautifully restrained, `Ondine' is a magical film that left me feeling a warmth in my bones I hadn't felt walking out of a theater in quite a while. I have been anxiously awaiting this films opening for some time now, beings that I had first read of it last year, but it wasn't until about a month ago that it opened in my neck of the woods and I dragged the wife down to one of those posh `Independent' theaters that I love so much to see this `adult fairytale' for myself.

I was simply captivated.

The film centers around a lost soul (well, quite a few of them actually) who have to come to terms with circumstance and situation, all of which dampen their existence. Syracuse is a reformed alcoholic fisherman who struggles to care for his handicapped daughter (the poor girls suffers from kidney failure) while battling his ex-wife and her new man, both of whom are still heavy drinkers. One morning Syracuse sees something strange in his net; a woman. She insists that he tell no one of her whereabouts, and so he allows her to stay in his mother's home (she's deceased). Syracuse's daughter stumbles upon this mysterious woman (who goes by the name Ondine, which means `she came from the sea') and instantly believes that she is a selkie, a sea-woman who wears a seal coat and is allowed to come to land and live for seven years if she sheds seven tears, buries her seal-coat and falls in love with a lands-man (it's Celtic myth, and I may have got it a tad wrong so correct me if you feel the need). Regardless of what or who Ondine is, it is instantly apparent that she is very good for both Annie and Syracuse, and they are good for her as well. You can see them come out of the depression that circles their lives and begin to live, spirits uplifted and futures bright.

Until...

Well, I don't think it would be too telling to state that not all is as it seems and dark secrets are bound to come to the light.

`Ondine' is a beautiful film to look at, complete with stunning cinematography that still maintains a gritty authenticity that lets you know this is not your typical glossed over fairytale. The Polish actress Alicja Bachleda (who looks like a Victoria's Secret model) is obviously well liked by the director (who can blame him) and so he effortlessly frames her, but without every once coming across as offensive or tacky. She's beautiful, but not at the cost of the films internal integrity.

The film has a very tender center, one that beautifully captures the rawness of human longing and the desire to put our pasts behind us.

Performance-wise, this film is very strong. I've always been a fan of Colin Farrell (so underrated as an actor) and I absolutely love what he's been doing with his career over the past few years. That Golden Globe win for `In Bruges' (how dare the Academy snub him!) was just the beginning, and `Ondine' marks yet another pure, grounded and unforgettable performance by the Irish stunner. He breathes such depth of despair into Syracuse's bones, giving him a rough yet endearing quality that makes us want to comfort him and alleviate his troubles. This is easily the best performance I've seen so far this year (granted, I have not seen a lot). Stephen Rea (who stunned in another Neil Jordan masterpiece, `The Crying Game') delivers a delightfully subtle supporting turn as the cheeky Priest who knows Syracuse all too well, and Alicja Bachleda sizzles with commanding strength as that mysterious sea-beauty. Alison Barry delivers a smart performance, once that capitalizes on youth in all the right ways and I think one that was necessary in carrying the audience off into her fantastical beliefs.

In the end, `Ondine' is a marvelous film that I highly recommend to all. There are few films that offer such refreshingly unique viewpoints and that flourish with originality within prose (my only balk is at the clichéd way in which the `obvious' villain is introduced, but it's a very minor complaint) that ignoring this film would be a travesty for any and every movie lover.

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.

Last week I caught this on an HD satellite channel. I'd never heard of it before, but thought to watch it because Colin Farrel is in it, and I knew that Ondine was a mermaid or a silkie. Colin Farrel in a movie about a mermaid? it looked like something my wife would like so I previewed it for recording. Oddly enough, I enjoyed it, though I'm not much of a romantic where films are concerned. The blurb before the film said "See it before it hits theaters..." Well, I don't think it will hit theaters. It's not a great popcorn movie. It's somewhat old-fashioned in that it's slow-paced, no major car chases, no heroic slaughter, or a hero that can run in slo-mo through the air, and no big CGI effects. I wasn't going to even attempt to review this film until I saw the June 3rd review calling it a nice fishing movie, and I really had to chuckle. I like fishing too. Well, be forewarned. If you think catching a nice-looking mermaid would be bonus, Ondine comes with baggage you and I wouldn't like, literally and figuratively. I squirmed a bit as the story filled out, wondering if the movie wouldn't come to a really bloody conclusion, and so squirmed in anticipation of a huge downer. I won't give away what happened, but if you're up for a bit of gloomy, gray (but still lovely) Irish scenery, and some decent acting, you might like it. Themes include family problems, alcoholism (there's no AA in a town this small, so the priest has to be "the tree"), remorse with a glimmer of hope, and a willing suspension of disbelief on the part of the main character who has all the problems.

I thought it was interesting that some Norskis provided the music for the soundtrack. I would have thought we'd have had more stereotypical Irish or Celtic pipes, whistles, and sad "Oh Poor Me," or "Poor Old Ireland" music thrown in, but it is a very nice change. Hopefully there'll be a soundtrack album. The music was new, fresh, melodious, and on second thought, I've had my fill of Oonya crooning in caves, echo chambers, and culverts. A little Celtic Twilight plinking, plunking, and tinkling goes a long way - so the music, I think, is worth a listen too. If you want Fast and Furious 10, Transporter 4, Iron Man 6, do not, I repeat, do not see this film! There isn't any sweaty sexual grappling with screaming, grunting, and humping either, just one short, side-back shot of a wet girl changing clothes. So if it's naked parts, sex and/or violence you want, fuggedaboutit.

If ever a film needed English subtitles this is one. The accents and soft talking are great but hard to follow storyline as you can't understand what they are saying and with no subtitles. Her songs were just beautiful and the story is great but a lot of it is lost on not catching what they are saying. But is was a refreshing movie from most out there now. Fine acting and story.

I think it's sad that people tend to neglect the real stories in lieu of CG and special effects these days. It's a reflection of the superficial people that we are letting ourselves become and is making the plot-driven movie a rarity in modern film. This film lets your imagination soar and then brings you back to earth, but the magic isn't gone when you return. In my opinion, it's more fulfilling to watch a movie that your imagination can become a part of, instead of being overwhelmed by the "bling".

Ondine was recommended so I watched it on Netflix. I'm rating it 4 stars for the movie and story which was simple and nice. However after the fuss I read here about not being able to understand what the actors were saying or the fuss over no subtitles I almost gave it a 5 star rating. Setting it up for subtitles was no problem at all, just go to "set up" on the menu. I listen to movies with head phones and glance up occasionally because I quilt while watching movies. The diction was perfectly understandable. If you'd like a lyrical, quiet movie about a father whose AA buddy is a priest, an imaginative sick little girl and a mysterious woman you will like this movie.

This film is a real gem. As the movie opens, you see a lone fishing boat gently tossed in the sea. The beautiful Irish coastline in the distance. I had tears rolling down my cheeks, because the imagery was so beautiful and haunting. That was before the introductory credits were even finished. Colin Farrell gives a virtuoso performance as Syracuse, a gentle sweet simple fisherman. His scenes with his onscreen daughter Annie are precious. He also exhibits Irish humor in scenes with his priest, who he uses as his AA buddy, because there isn't a chapter in the town where they live. He has a range of emotions with the leading lady, Ondine. He falls in love with her, so there's humor, tenderness, lust and at one point in the movie, rage. That's the point when the viewer sees the damage liquor does to this man. It's a fairy tale. You have to suspend disbelief and just go with the story. There's also suspense. The cinematography is worth seeing the movie. It's a film that will stay with you, if you let yourself enjoy it. Criticisms have been that Colin Farrell's pitch perfect regional Cork accent is difficult to understand. If that's the case, use closed captioning or subtitles to watch the film. Some of the scenes filmed at night make it difficult to see the actors, but otherwise, prepare to be charmed. Women will especially like this film.