Ondine

Colour, 35 mm
Ireland, USA, 2009, 111 min
Section: Horizons

About the film

Once there was a fisherman.... Although he’s been sober for over two years, he can’t believe his eyes when one day he fishes a young woman out of the sea who has lost her memory. She must be a selkie – a creature that brings luck to people on the mainland. At least that’s what Annie dreams up, a sick 11-year-old girl whose divorced fisherman father Syracuse has fallen in love with the woman. Whether or not Ondine is a mermaid, she moves right into the young fisherman’s home and heart. And although she lacks scales and fins, she is subject to the laws of her species: Ondine has only been given a limited amount of time and when that is up, her lawful partner will come for her.... With this love story unfolding between earth, sea, and sky, director Neil Jordan resumes his exploration of ambivalently mystical tales as represented by The Company of Wolves (1984), Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), and the oneiric crime drama In Dreams (1999).

About the director

Neil Jordan (b. 1950, Sligo, Ireland) graduated in Irish history and English literature from University College Dublin. His films betray an interest in social outcasts – be it werewolf (The Company of Wolves, 1984), vampire (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, 1994), prostitute (Mona Lisa, 1986), or transvestite (The Crying Game, 1992 – Oscar for Best Screenplay, Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, Independent Spirit Award; Breakfast on Pluto, 2005). Despite having distanced himself from his Catholic upbringing, crime and punishment play an important role in his movies (The Butcher Boy, 1997 – Silver Bear for direction at the 1998 Berlinale; The Brave One, 2007), often in connection with the IRA (The Crying Game; Michael Collins, 1996 – Golden Lion at the Venice IFF). In addition to directing, writing, and producing films, he also writes stories and novels generally connected to his native Ireland.