FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Hayden Kane
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Caryl
It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
HersiliaS
This is one of the saddest and yet so profoundly beautiful films that I'd ever seen. The recurring theme from Beethoven's 7th Symphony deepens the mood, which is heartbreaking throughout the movie. The story seems simple: a man who lost his newly wed wife is desperate to find proof of the existence of afterlife, and falls into an intricate web of fantasy and reality rather than romance. But what permeates the whole story, and in fact makes it beautiful, is despair and sadness. Sadness even more than despair. This is one of the most beautiful movies about emotions that I know. It's also a beautiful movie about photography, one that sees its magic and its illusionary character from a very different angle than Antonioni's "Blow-up", but then marginally comes to similar conclusions about the art.(By the way, I believe that the "factual error" pointed out on this board, that photography has always been forbidden in British courts, is actually a purposeful licence rather than mistake: Charles is bombarded by flashes the same way like when he tried to capture the fairies, and the sound also resembles the actual bombings from the WW1 sequence. It therefore makes a very nice touch.) Another great asset of the story is that we never know what is what - I keep wondering which world and which story is real: the one that we are immersed in after Charles recovers in Switzerland, or the one that unites the beginning and the end: the attempt at saving the wife's life. Or maybe Charles dies in that snowstorm, or does not recover, and is looking for his wife in the limbo between the worlds, until he finds the passage? That would explain the magical tree, the outwordly girls, the sequence of deaths, the supernatural strength of the vicar; and on the 'realistic' level the fact that first Charles photographs the dead in the war, and then specializes in the trick photos that allows to take photographs of the living with their dead relatives. He is blind when he is being treated in Switzerland, and all the main story may as well be his ravings when he's dying: we never see him regain sight and walk, we are moved to the trenches immediately, and he does not behave like a living man there.And maybe Charles is a fairy to begin with? He moved too quickly for the camera to catch him properly on his own wedding photograph, after all... The inverted sequence of the ball, the mystery of the door - all this points at some unrealistic touch to the main storyline.The actors are superb; I wish Toby Stephens played more characters like this, his Charles is an absolute masterpiece, particularly in the last scenes. Ben Kingsley is demonic, and the way he portrays the vicar makes one ask who he really is (for me he is just the adversary - the diabolos - of Charles, and his vision of heaven is hell for the main character). The girls are fine (both Emily Woof and Frances Barber give really grasping performances), and so is Edward Hardwicke Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - a nice touch in the story, which is after all based on the hoax that played such a prominent role in his life.
samkan
This is review #39 and the average vote is near "9". I'm neither an attention seeker nor depressed but PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES is not a great film. There are a lot of "ways" in which P-F may have entertained, been successful, etc., but to risk adopting a cliché or canned response, P-F doesn't click on any level. It fails to serve as a chronicle or historical note to the actual history of events (as several reviewers pointed out, the British fairy "craze" was an actual late 19th century phenomona) . Though I cannot over-fault P-F for not delving into events as did FAIRY TALE (It has the right to try and stand on its own) there's a scene where we pass several rooms wherein everyone's got a a crystal ball, is doing a seance, i.e., as if to say all of England is presently chasing fairies! Neither did I find P-F to be a particularly great love story, exploration of the Afterlife, or conflict of wills. We're to be convinced of the existence of fairies on very little support, as well as introduction of a "flower drug" as nothing more than a useful plot devise. Our hero's lost love angst is, arguably, to be taken for granted and, should you "buy" such, the role of his new sweetheart-in-waiting becomes a loose end. With all the hub-bub about "afterlife" and life-as-dream, the resolution we appear to be given is nothing of the sort but rather a "time travel" package; i.e., back to real life again instead of into another world. Abjectly wasted and totally without benefit to P-F is Ben Kingsley's lost-his-way preacher. Other than dying to serve the film's plot ending, I can easily envision cutting the preacher's entire role without affect to the rest of the story. The movie is beautifully filmed and the props are great, as is the acting (NOTE: supporting cast is particularly noteworthy). In the end though, PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES either is trying to do too much or, alternately, is not sure what it wants to do!
david-bartlett-2
Such a shame that this beautiful film has been so overlooked and dismissed. I can think of few films that deal with the issue of loss and grief so sensitively and with such original flair. Nick Willing's film is tender, mysterious, moving and confident. And, often quite rare in modern cinema, his characters actually deliver and go on a genuine journey. In short, this film takes us somewhere. I believe Mr Willing and his producers have been criticised heavily for their fairy effects: the fairies that appear are sometimes lithe, naked little nymphs, and sometimes plump little men. Both are absolutely perfectly judged, in my opinion, providing something as far from Disney as possible, but entirely in keeping with the Edwardian mood of the whole piece. Moreover, the lighting, pacing, over-cranking and scoring of the sequences wherein the fairies appear are masterfully handled. As a film-maker myself, I find this film an inspiration. The end of the film is unbelievably balletic and touching. Ben Kingsley, Toby Stephens and Edward Hardwicke are splendid. The score by Simon Boswell is also an absolute gem, and it's a shame this isn't on general release on CD. One of the great British films of the end of the century.
tinker99
Photographing Fairies was loosely based on the book of the same name by Steven Szylagi. It deals with a fictional fairy incident of two girls, in post World War 1 England, who claimed to have photographed fairies; as seen through the cynical eyes of a photographer bent on proving the girls false. Charles Castle, a British photographer who specializes in trick photography. He is a man haunted by the death of his wife. Following a visit to a Philosophical Society meeting where he debunks the mystical by explaining tricks of the camera along side Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he is approached by a woman who has taken a photograph of her daughter with a fairy standing in her hand and is asked to try and disprove the pictures using empirical logic and the modern camera obscura. This begins his adventure into a world he has never believed in and has gone out of his way to disprove. What he finds is unexpected and spiritually magical. Photographing Fairies is as surprising and touching a movie as it is haunting. High-quality cinema at its best - great acting, a clever story, superb special effects, spell binding soundtrack, and an intriguing examination of the religious and philosophical questions we all face. Love, death, grief, spirituality, and rebirth / redemption; these are the critical elements that weave throughout this movie. Toby Stephens gives a stunning performance as a character, Charles Castle who radiates Humanity and feeling, portraying the personal conflict of a man grasping for understanding years after the tragic accidental death of his wife on their honeymoon. Ben Kingsley offers a ruggedly convincing yet disturbing performance as the country preacher (and father of the girls) ministering to his flock amidst the spiritual void of his times in a post WWI English village. He masks the feelings of pride, avarice, rage, homicide, jealousy, infidelity, gluttony, nearly all the seven deadly sins and more. His is the perfect counter to the fantasy elements and brings a convincing sense of realism to the storyline. The girls in this movie are surprisingly innocent in their well-scripted dialogue and action scenes. They are pivotal characters to the childlike view that pits adult sensibilities and reason to the spiritual test.The music was a subtle treasure throughout the movie. Its main theme is played as everything from a dance tune to a funeral dirge, and it will stay with you far after the movie. It is that `haunting' quality of the tune that adds that extra ethereal touch to the total effect of the movie. The 'death song' is a part of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, and has been recorded by Sarah Brightman as Figlio Perduto. The movie has definite religious undertones. Photographing Fairies makes no distinctions about beliefs. The preacher-father character is the pastor for a small church, and the heaven ideas can be adapted to suit almost any taste. Its challenge is to the basis of belief itself, and begs to ask a single daunting question "What if heaven were as real as a place?" Much of the magic that makes Photographing Fairies such a resounding success is the elements of love / death / and the longing to recapture ones state of personal grace. A feeling of redemption as real and achievable as the magic of a child's innocence. No matter what your philosophical/religious beliefs are, you will be moved by what you feel in this movie. Its touching message will compel you to view this movie over-and-over again.
