Review of Ondine (2010) by Robert H — 05 Nov 2010

Ondine is a movie that is about fairy tales and myths and selkies, and also about a fisherman, his disabled daughter, divorced ex-wife, and modern day drama.

Or perhaps it is a movie about one fisherman and his MPDG (manic pixie dream girl). There are all kinds of things that could be disappointing about this film. It's shot almost entirely on grey, overcast, dreary Irish days. It has things like alcoholism and disability and broken families in it. It could be a depressing, bleak, Mike Leigh style bore-fest.

However, the film does not go wrong. It plays the fairy tale card quite heavily, and even when reality knocks on the door, the film stays true to its fairy tale leanings. A lot of the energy comes from the way Ondine is played. Some of it is a very simple, almost crude thing: she's very sexy. But it's not just the fact that she prances around in see-through wet clothing or steers a boat with long legs. The way she interacts with the little girl, tightrope-walking on uncertainty, and making the fairy tale her own, is incredibly effective: it energises the entire movie to the point where the bleaker and greyer moments are forgiven.

It is a feel-good film, even if it drizzles some grit into the tale.