Photographing Fairies
If You Only Believe. . .
'Death is merely a change of state. The soul is a fresh expression of the
self. The dead are not dust. They really are only a footfall away.'
It is the ensuing years after World War I, and Charles Castle (Toby
Stephens) is eking out a living as a photographer in London, after having
spent time in the trenches of Europe, photographing dead soldiers for
posterity. Before the war, in 1912, he was married in Switzerland, but due
to a mountain climbing tragedy, became a widower before the honeymoon was
over. He has become a mere shell of a man, going through the motions of
everyday life, and waiting for the day that he himself will
cease to exist. His function in this life has been to debunk the world of
the supernatural and all who claim to make contact with the spirit world.
At one such function, sponsored by the Theosophical Society, he lays! waste
to a set of photographs purporting to show two young girls with fairies
dancing around them. A woman who attended the same function comes to his
studio, showing photos of a different calibre -- a little girl with a fairy
obscured, standing on the end of her hand. Castle readily pooh poohs this
display, and the woman leaves, satisfied and yet unfulfilled in her
quest. Before long, Castle comes to realize, through a series of
experiments, that there is a great deal of truth being portrayed in that
photograph, and hence, he makes it his goal to travel to Birkenwell to
confront his own demons and solve the mystery of life and death as we know it.
Photographing Fairies is a variation on a theme of a famous incident that
happened in England in 1917 involving two young girls. Frances Griffiths
and Elsie Wright of Cottingley, claimed to have taken photographs of
fairies in their garden. These photos were seized upon by no! other than
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame in 1921, and bandied about
as absolute proof of theosophist theories which he was attracted to. Final
proof of the girls and their duplicity was revealed in 1983, when Elsie
wrote her famous confession and Frances followed suit. The article was
posted in The Times.
Photographing Fairies is definitely not a film for children. It was
released the same year as another film about fairies, Fairy Tale: A True
Story, but is miles apart in telling a tale of fantasy and awe. While the
latter asks us to believe that all we see happened as it was filmed, there
is obviously a great deal of artistic license projected.
Photographing Fairies differs for it asks us as viewers to take it or leave
it as we see fit. It is a much darker story and obviously not a fairy tale
with a happy ending, except in the mind of Charles Castle as he races on a
course with death. It is tr! uly a shame that this film was lost in the
shuffle of Fairy Tale, for while both have their good points, Photographing
Fairies has an absolute stranglehold on a story with teeth in it.
Toby Stephens plays Charles Castle as an enigma, and in doing so, has
provided us with an entirely convincing performance. Emily Woof as Linda,
governess to the little girls, Clara and Ana Templeton (Hannah Bould and
Miriam Grant) is effective in her pursuit to keep Charles in this world and
not the next. The girls are etched in innocence and peace of mind and never
does one get the feeling that we are witnessing 'acting' by precocious
children. Ben Kingsley as Reverend Templeton provides a strange and
calculated portrayal, moving from frame to frame, changing his spots like a
leopard, until the final denouement between Castle and himself in the
forest. Edward Hardwicke as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is simply doing what he
does best;! lending credence to a marvelous block of acting as has been his
wont over a long and illustrious career. It's too bad that his role was so
short in this film.
Nick Willing and Chris Harrald have taken the novel of the same name by
Steve Szilagyi and worked miracles with it. The novel was simply an
armature for an interpretation, that is a vast improvement on a slight
undertaking by Mr. Szilagyi. The better story is provided in the film,
for complexities of human nature are betrayed that never quite see the
light of day in the book. Both Willing and Harrald are relative newcomers
to the world of film, but if Photographing Fairies is any indication of
what stuff they are made of, then a productive, creative and applause-
filled road is theirs to travel.
The photography by John de Borman is exquisite and the English countryside,
along with the Swiss Alps, have never been shown to lovelier advantage.
There is an impr! essionistic quality to it all, as we are drawn into the
fabric of the story.
When it first opened, critics made a great deal out of the fact that the
visuals of the fairies had none of the requisite necessities
needed to make the viewer think they were actually seeing the agreed
upon subject. What nitpicking! They failed to understand that only a visual
was pertinent to the crux of the situation, and not a high tech, state of
the art blow out. The merest hint of 'it's there' was all that was needed,
and it was achieved in spades.
Music by Simon Boswell is evocative of time and place and it shares mood
duties with the death dirge of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony,
played to full effect and in compliance with Castle's life and eventual
fate. If there is a dry eye to be had at the conclusion of this film, then
the person it belongs to, has no heart or soul.
This reviewer was intrigued and swept away, ! into the world of make believe
and what ifs. The logical and irrationality of the subject, melded together to present for our
considerations, a well thought out and richly veined tale that stays with
us long after the credits have rolled, the music has stopped and we have
left the theatre. We are left with the possibilities of probabilities, as we
would like to think them to be. We are entreated entrance into a world of
simple things and knowing souls who will guide us to another world where
things will be complacent and serene, if we just believe.
Photographing Fairies is that rare commodity which comes along and stays
with us like a cool breeze on a summer's day, and is just as quickly gone
to adjust its policies. A seed has been planted and the questions we are
left with take us back to a time of innocence, longing and understanding.
Is there a place, a clearing, a glen that houses such things? We can only
wish...
Written by: Mary F. Sibley
Reviewers Rating: 9
Reader's Rating: 8.69
Reader's Votes: 16
Added: 21-May-2003
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