On Ondine Time

Trying to decide what to watch for Saint Patrick's Day last night, I searched for "Neil Jordan" on HBOMax and only Ondine and Mona Lisa came up. So I started watching Ondine, though I reviewed it back in 2013 and, though I liked it, I didn't remember it making a big impression on me. It still doesn't blow me down but the cinematography is awfully pretty, as is Alicja Bachleda.

Where's she been since Ondine came out in 2009? According to Wikipedia, she hasn't made a movie since 2016 and her latest credit is a 2019 Wolfenstein video game. I hope she retired out of choice.

She had a son with her Ondine co-star, Colin Farrell, in 2009, the same year Ondine was released, but she and Farrell separated the next year. So much for the fairy tale.

They both give good performances in Ondine, which is kind of like an anti-Secret of Roan Inish. Like Secret of Roan Inish, it's about a woman believed to be a selkie and there's an adorable, precocious little girl involved in the story. In Ondine, she was born with a diseased kidney and at her young age, Annie (Alison Barry) is forced to go about in a motorised wheelchair.

There's an incidental plug for the Irish healthcare system. A girl from a family of like economic circumstances in the U.S. would probably have to make do with crutches. Though I imagine crutches from a hospital in the U.S. don't go for less than two grand.

If there's a real problem with the film, it's that it spends too little time on the moral problem of the third act, when someone dying unexpectedly ends up benefiting the main cast. The movie completely glosses over how Annie feels about it.

The film's at its best when it's just a sweet, well photographed romance. When Ondine (Bachleda) is traipsing about half naked and Circus (Farrell) is watching her, perplexed by her beauty and her ability to summon salmon by singing a Sigur Ros song.

I had grilled salmon for dinner last night while watching the movie, along with boiled cabbage and potato I'd boiled then fried in butter. It seemed decently Irish to me.

Ondine is available on HBOMax.