DVD Review: ‘Ondine’ Melds Gritty Drama With Muddled Enchantment

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CHICAGO – One of the defining thematic elements in a Neil Jordan picture is a central relationships built upon a giant question mark, whether it be between a call girl and her chauffeur (“Mona Lisa”), an IRA volunteer and a seductive hairdresser (“The Crying Game”), or in this case, a fisherman and the woman he catches in his net.

Who is this luminous lady in the water? Is she some sort of mythical creature, perhaps a mermaid or a selkie? Is Jordan offering his own low-key take on “Splash,” much like how “Mona Lisa” seemed to be the filmmaker’s masterful variation on “Taxi Driver”? That certainly seems to be the case early on in “Ondine,” a rather endearing and evasive mood piece that holds its cards tightly to its chest until its final minutes. The story is a faerie tale clearly intended for adults, yet older kids and teenagers may find themselves susceptible to its subdued spell.

DVD Rating: 3.0/5.0

After his revelatory turn in Martin McDonagh’s criminally under-appreciated “In Bruges,” Colin Farrell delivers some of his most vulnerable and sensitive work to date as Syracuse, a recovering alcoholic desperate to provide a good life for his daughter, Annie (Alison Barry), who’s stricken with kidney failure. His whimsical nature enables him to approach the whole “women-caught-in-a-net” situation with remarkable calm and composure. He even allows the mystery lady to stay at his house, instead of simply calling an ambulance. As she begins to regain her memory, the ethereal creature starts referring to herself as Ondine, and quickly befriends Annie, who eagerly brushes up on her selkie knowledge. This story could easily be written off as ridiculous, but Jordan takes the absolute right approach to the material for its first two acts, allowing the tale to unfold with dreamlike poetry and subtle hints of magic. The role of Ondine is obviously the trickiest in the picture, and actress Alicja Bachleda achieves a delicate balance between fearful bewilderment and contented delight.

Alicja Bachleda and Colin Farrell star in Neil Jordan’s Ondine.
Photo credit: Magnolia Home Entertainment

It’s a shame that Jordan decided to tack on an overtly literal ending that ends up deflating the film’s quiet power. If the film had ended on a note of ambiguity, it would’ve resonated far stronger in the imaginations of moviegoers. Christopher Doyle’s elegant cinematography captures simple imagery loaded with ominous beauty, such as a gray evening landscape illuminated by the single flare of a lighthouse. Though Barry is fittingly adorable, her flat line readings occasionally work against the enchantment Jordan is attempting to create. Some of the film’s best moments center on amusing interludes between Syracuse and his increasingly perplexed priest, played by Jordan regular Stephen Rea.

Ondine was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on Sept. 21, 2010. Photo credit: Magnolia Home Entertainment

Syracuse’s struggle with alcohol certainly mirrors Farrell’s much-publicized battle with the bottle, and his performance is more honest and nakedly emotional than anything he’s ever done. Though his career once seemed to be a flash in the pan, Farrell has proven himself to be the real deal, and “Ondine” suggests that his best work may still be ahead of him. He’s clearly on a roll.

“Ondine” is presented in its 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and the picture quality is superb overall, though some nighttime scenes are so murky that the action becomes hopelessly obscured. And like so many other recent DVDs, this disc doesn’t include any English subtitles. They would’ve been quite useful in assisting some American viewers with understanding the actors’ thick Irish accents (the only alternate language offered is in the form of Spanish subtitles). This omission simply makes no sense, and apparently the film’s Blu-Ray release is no more helpful in this regard.

The sole extras are two brief making-of featurettes that share a great deal of the same talking head sound bites. Jordan says that his goal was to “create suspension of disbelief through natural means,” without ever resorting to special effects. Farrell praises the film for its lack of sentimentality, and says that his young co-star (Barry) was completely untrained, but had a sense of playfulness that’s crucial for an actor to possess. The director claims that he wanted a non-actor in the role of Annie, and a relative unknown to be cast as Ondine. He chose Bachleda after discovering her in Marco Kreuzpaintner’s 2007 sex trafficking drama, “Trade.” Rea briefly discusses his longtime collaboration with Jordan, and reminds viewers that the filmmaker was a great novelist before he ever set his sights on cinema.

By MATT FAGERHOLM Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com matt@hollywoodchicago.com