Ondine (2009)

	Also Known As: Ondine - Das Mädchen aus dem Meer
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Neil Jordan
	Actors: Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda, Alison Barry
	Country: IRL, USA
	Genre: Drama, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 16.04.2014, Bluray
Synopsis: On the coast of Cork, Syracuse is a fisherman living alone. His precocious daughter, Annie, about 10, has failing kidneys. One day, a nearly-drowned young woman comes up in his net; she speaks oddly, calls herself Ondine, and wants no one to see her. He puts her up in an isolated cottage that was his mother's. Annie discovers Ondine's presence and believes she's a selkie, a mythical seal turned human while on land.
Review: I find the story excellent as a mix of reality and legend or dream. The rythm is perfectly adapted to this ambiguity. The wonderful scenery of Ireland makes also the belief in the legend more realistic. The acting is excellent. Not only Colin Farrell but also Alicja Bachleda. The most impressive to me is the directing. Neil Jordan manages to generate ambiguity in the viewer point of view with the use of slow pictures at the water level, with the daughter Annie telling stories of Selkies, with the strong will not to be seen by anyone, with the often swimming scenes in expected cold water, with the pictures of fairy streams down to the see, with the isolation of the house, with the colours and with the greys in the pictures, with the music by Sigur Ros (one of my favourite bands). As usual, the reality is much more basci and stupid and awful than the dream and the fairy tales.
Rating: 8 /10