Ondine

The story of Syracuse, an Irish fisherman, whose life is transformed when he catches a beautiful and mysterious woman in his nets. She says her name is Ondine, which means “she came from the sea”. His daughter Annie comes to believe that the woman is a selkie, a magical seal / woman creature, while Syracuse falls helplessly in love. Is Ondine really a selkie, will she stay, can love be trusted? What is Ondine’s real secret? And who is the menacing man lurking around town spying on her? “For all his flirting with mega-stardom, Colin Farrell has always been a fine character actor, perhaps best evidenced in the role of nervy hitman, Ray, in “In Bruges” (2008). In Neil Jordan’s affable ONDINE, he gives another impressively unstarry performance as the fisherman Syracuse, an embittered, semi-alcoholic loner, alienated from his former wife and daughter, Annie, whose fragile health has her confined to a wheelchair. ... Jordan’s beautifully wrought re-imagining of the dreary life of the working man, ably assisted by Chris Doyle’s ravishing cinematography, is imbued with a palpable sense of the rhythms of Irish life. Newcomer Alicia Bachleda also shines as the ethereal ONDINE in this charming mixture of small-town comedy and fantasy in which a final slap of cold, salty spray only adds to the poignancy of the daydream.” Seattle FF