Movie Reviews

Felicia's Journey

22 Jun 2000

Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan hit gold a few years ago with his first adaptation, The Sweet Hereafter. It was film in which all elements blended smoothly, partly because the original novel was a rare story that suited Egoyan's unorthodox style.

Felicia's Journey is his second adaptation, and though it doesn't quite hit the transcendental heights of his previous one, it is still a splendid piece of work. William Trevor's 1994 novel is the sort of story, neither vague nor predictable, that Egoyan obviously loves. Though set in the real world, it becomes downright peculiar at times, revolving around strange events and even stranger revelations.

In the early scenes, we meet the gentle Hilditch (a wonderfully understated Bob Hoskins), who runs a catering business and lives alone, preparing culinary masterpieces each night for his solitary consumption. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Irish girl Felicia (the luminous Elaine Cassidy) is in England, naively attempting to track down her lover Johnny (Peter McDonald).

It is best not to reveal much more of this intriguing story, except to say that it comments on everything from abortion to Anglo-Irish politics to religious hypocrisy. And if you think you have worked it out from those clues, you are probably wrong. It is not so transparent.

Mostly, it is a film about loneliness, but it is unfair to say that. Many films tackle that subject, and nobody wants to see them. This one is far more lively than its subject matter would attest.

Suffice it to say that what begins as eccentric, even comical, gradually becomes very dark indeed. Like all of Egoyan's work, it is both disturbing and very beautiful (all praise the cinematography of his frequent collaborator, Paul Sarossy). Like The Sweet Hereafter, the strangely satisfying denouement makes up for the many deliberate moments of unease throughout the film.

This is Egoyan's first British film (co-produced, in fact, by Mel Gibson's Icon Entertainment). It still seems unlikely that he will ever become a Hollywood director, but I almost wish he would. Yes, the results would probably be disastrous, but with his admirable refusal to "go commercial", many more film-goers are denied the work of a brilliant and evocative film-maker.