Complete A-Z list


Ondine

5/10

Stars: Colin Farrell, Alicya Bachleda, Dervla Kirwan, Alison Curry, Tony Curran, Stephen Rea

Director: Neil Jordan

Another drop o' the Oirish from director Neil Jordan, featuring Farrell, with annoying lank, long hair, as a no-luck fisherman who finds a girl, Ondine (Bachleda), in his net and comes to believe she may be a 'selkie', or creature of the sea.

He also has an ex-wife (Kirwan), who has custody of their daughter (Curry), whose kidney failure has left her in a wheelchair. The selkie, his daughter tells him, 'comes out of the sea and lives on land until the sea calls her back'.

Reality, alas, is somewhat different, but in the meantime Ondine, singing softly to the waves, brings him good fortune, as he amasses huge catches of lobster and salmon.

Like the fish, perhaps, you may find yourself being lulled gently to sleep by this offering, which has some illogical later developments to bring its story to a conclusion, notably when reformed alcoholic Farrell gets roaring drunk at the funeral of his ex-wife's lover (whom he didn't even like). Performances, like the photography of the County Cork coastline, are nothing exceptional.

David Quinlan

UK 2009. UK Distributor: Paramount. Fujicolor.
102 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 28 Feb 2010