Ondine (2009)

magical film about an Irish legend

Director: Neil Jordan

 

From the director of Mona Lisa and the 1992 hit The Crying Game, came this fanciful and unusual piece of cinema about an Irish fisherman named Syracuse (Colin Ferrell) whose friends call him “Circus”. He is rather poor and only owns a small  tug. He fishes by himself so he barely catches enough to get by. One day, he pulls up his trawler’s nets and finds a beautiful woman whom he thinks is dead. When she comes to life, he thinks he is seeing things. She tells him her name is Ondine (Alicija Bachleda). He takes her home because she appears to be very cold.

 

His daughter Annie (Alison Barry) is a very precocious young girl who lives with her mother Maura (Dervla Kirwan), needs to undergo frequent kidney dialysis, and gets around with a motorized wheelchair. He tells her a fairytale about a fisherman who finds a woman in his nets whose name is Ondine.  Alison tells him who the mythological Ondine is and he begins to think this is a dream come true. She also mentions that the girl may be a selkie, a legendary woman who is born of a seal’s skin when it is shed.

 

Suddenly, Syracuse seems to have better luck fishing. His nets are much fuller, and he attributes this to Ondine. He goes to confession (which he hasn’t been to in a very long time, and tells his priest (Stephen Rea) about the mystery. Gradually, more of the mystery becomes revealed when the real world intercedes. There is a terrible car crash and the return of a dark and violent figure from Ondine's past.

 

The environment of the film is conveyed very well, and it and the actors have the look of living in this cold and wet environment. The music is by Kjartan Sveinsson, although one of the songs is performed by the popular band Sigur Rós.