David O'ConnellOndine
July 5th 2011 03:11
It’s always a source of interest to see a filmmaker returning to his roots. Irish director Neil Jordan, so long used to mid-range budgets in Hollywood, has returned to his homeland again (as he did in 1997 with The Butcher Boy and in 2005 with Breakfast on Pluto) to relate a self-penned tale of a humble fisherman whose latest strange catch instigates an unforeseeable change in his life.
Ondine (2009) begins with a fisherman nicknamed ‘Circus’ for his past foolish exploits as a hapless alcoholic. Syracuse (Colin Farrell) plucks what he believes to be the body of a drowned young woman from the sea when hauling his nets aboard. The woman (Alicja Bachleda) is still alive. She speaks with heavily accented English and wishes to be seen by nobody except Syracuse who questions her fruitlessly before deciding to hold his tongue and count his blessings.
Syracuse’s daughter Annie (Alison Barry) has a second sense when it comes to Ondine’s presence in her father’s life. Without hesitation she declares the stranger in their midst a selkie, a mythical shape-shifting creature from Celtic folklore - a part seal who can assume human form and remain with her chosen one if she buries her seal coat in nearby grounds.
Syracuse both humours and is humoured by Annie‘s stories. He seems to have no stake in Ondine’s identity either way being too infatuated by her exotic presence. In her he perceives only a saving grace, a determinedly, if inexplicably, devoted woman who is also a lucky charm (for Ondine’s presence inspires his healthiest takings from the sea for ages).
Against the gloomy, perpetually grey-tinged backdrop of the sleepy town (artfully captured by Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle), Jordan investigates the psyche of this haunted man whose best instincts have led him to the brink of extinction. Only Annie sustains Syracuse, preventing a relapse with the bottle. Her cheeky presence is the probably the best thing about the film; her delightful brogue like sweet music, as much a lucky charm to the director as Ondine’s power over the creatures of the sea.
Jordan’s handling of the material may seem prosaic but his tone works like an Irish charm, rustic and reduced to small-scale matters of the heart. As a shadowy figure emerges in town with an unhealthy interest in Ondine, Syracuse must finally confront a version of reality beyond the mythical texts Annie draws his attention to.
What secret past is Ondine really keeping concealed? Or is she really a selkie after all? Though a long way short of the director’s best work, the scaled down medium he has chosen appeals greatly. The spritely Barry and an earnest Farrell, also making a rare appearance in his homeland, ensure we invest something of ourselves in this family.
And yes, for Jordan devotees, expect the requisite Stephen Rae appearance as a cynical priest whom Syracuse visits to unburden his suspicions of madness or fears of a good fortune that is sure to turn bad if the rest of his life is any indication.
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