Ondine - dvd review

This is an Irish sea tale, starring Ireland's own Colin Farrell as a fisherman named Syracuse in modern day Ireland. Of course, this is a character that Farrell can relate too. Syracuse is a recovering alcoholic who does his best every long day to see his ill daughter, Annie (Alison Barry) home. Annie is in a wheel chair and needs a new kidney who lives with her mother and boyfriend.

Everyday, she waits to hear a marvelous sea story from her dad as he pushes her home. Finally, he has a real story to tell her. He caught a woman(Alicja Bachleda) in his net, who miraculously is alive. Its a fierce tale, of course, but he's not sure he can admit its really true. Annie mixes in a bit of her own imagination to the tale about the woman from the water. She thinks of Ondine as a sea witch or a selkie.

“My name is Syracuse, and I’ve been sober for… two years. This is where they all.. clap.”
“Where’d you see that, in the movies?”

Syracuse's luck has changed with Ondine around. He catches more on his boat. He's hoping to keep her to himself, but Annie catches on quickly. If only it could have all stayed a fairytale, unfortunately, Ondine has a past and it draws near. Their are hoodlums after her, along with the drugs she is suppose to have.

A beautiful back drop for a movie, yet one with suspense. There is a mix of old customs with in the story too. How important religion is... even for those who might not be that religious in the village. Farrell shows he is capable of such a wide range of emotions. His quiet quaint Syracuse falls off the wagon and shows a rather bitter side of the man from the sea.

TRIVIA NOTE: Colin and Alicja met on the set of Ondine and later had a son named Henry.

Alison Barry  played her part amazing as Annie.

If you want to watch a bit of what Irish film has to offer, then you'll be glad to find this movie.

STORYLINE: On the coast of Cork, Syracuse is a fisherman, on the wagon, 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. If this is a fairy tale, is there a happily ever after, or do the realities of alcohol, illness, and worse intrude, including Syracuse's inveterate bad luck? As his priest tell him, misery's easy, it's happiness you have to work at. Any hope of that?

ondine credits

Ondines or undines are elementals, enumerated as the water elementals in works of alchemy by Paracelsus. They also appear in European folklore as fairy-like creatures; the name may be used interchangeably with those of other water spirits. Undines were said to be able to gain a soul by marrying a human and bearing his child.