Felicia's Journey (1999)

Like Hitchcock, Atom Egoyan envisions family life as a potential hotbed of literal or figurative violence and incest. In Felicia's Journey, Egoyan's adaptation of William Trevor's shattering novel, one dreads to imagine what TV-cook mom (Arsinée Khanjian) did to so damage her pudgy son that grown- up Hilditch (Bob Hoskins) still prepares meals in perfect unison with faded videotapes of her show--and, as we eventually discover, often takes more sinister trips down Memory Lane. Distant kin to Psycho's Tony Perkins, Hoskins's troll is so obsessive, so traumatized, his every short-armed, fat-handed gesture and sing-song utterance is precisely calculated to keep reality safely buried.

Egoyan's movies often seem located underwater, in some surreal dreamscape where one's breath is perpetually suspended while a slow horror seeps ever deeper under the skin. Helpless, transfixed, one watches as his characters drive inexorably toward mined intersections where lives and souls may be lost or redeemed. When Hilditch's path crosses, diverges from, and finally coincides with that of young, pregnant Felicia (Elaine Cassidy)--an Irish innocent searching for her errant boyfriend--it leads to terrible epiphany for these fellow travelers. Trouble is, creepy Hilditch and too-naive Felicia come up a bit short in the psychological complexity department, so by film's end, revelatory payoffs are mostly penny ante. Felica's Journey tours familiar Egoyan territory--an industrialized wasteland full of hungry hearts--but this latest fairy tale (think perverse variations on Hansel and Gretel) isn't in the same league with such "family values" masterpieces as Exotica or The Sweet Hereafter. --Kathleen Murphy Amazon.com

Felicia's Journey

Although Leonard Maltin gives this film a tepid review in his Video Guide, I find it a very well made film. I had not watched it since the time when it was sold in video cassette, and I'd forgotten how good it was. Bob Hoskins performance is especially good. The movie is quite frightening, especially if one has never seen it and doesn't know the outcome, but it leaves one with a lot to think about. The style is somewhat like that of a Neil Jordan film. August 22, 2008

Dinner with a Serial Killer

This is a movie in the Hitchcock style, this time without gore, but with subtle terror.

Some of the scenes are homages to the master, but this does not detract from their effectiveness. (I'm thinking of glass of milk carried up the stairs in Suspicion.)

The movie is suspenseful, and scary as mild-mannered catering supervisor Hilditch befriends the lost traveller Felicia as she struggles to find her missing boyfriend. On the surface, Mr. Hilditch seems so nice, but as his little hobby is gradually revealed, even the calmest scenes are quite terrifying.

Hilditch has grown up under the suffocating wing of his famous TV chef mother. Apparently, like the mother-son bonding in Psycho, the results of this "nurturing" can be deadly.

The leads are played by Bob Hoskins -- what a great actor -- and Elaine Cassidy, a young actress who makes the incredibly naive Felicia come alive. The movie is from a novel by William Trevor.

This is a troubling film, filmed in wide-open industrial spaces that emphasize how alone and weak Felicia is. The only place of comfort is the serial killer's cozy homestead.

This is not a Psycho-style shrieker, but it is a work of quiet horror. "Have a cup of tea, my dear?"

If you liked this, see Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter. November 13, 2005

A JOURNEY TO REMEMBER...

This film adaptation of William Trevor's novel of psychological suspense, for which its author was the recipient of the 1994 Whitbread Award, is one that those who read the book should see, as well as those who like unusual films of psychological suspense. After reading the book, I became curious as to how a film adaptation would work, as so much of the book involves the introspections of two people whose lives interconnect. Despite some of its shortcomings, it is definitely a film worth seeing, if only for Bob Hoskins brilliant performance.

Felicia is a seventeen year old motherless and naive Irish girl, who has become intimate with an Irish boy named Johnny. Of course, the expected ensues, and after Johnny has left Ireland and returned to England where he ostensibly works, Felicia is left holding the bag. Her disapproving father suspects Johnny of actually being in the British Army and, thus, a traitor to his own. He also has a few choice words for his daughter, now that she is in the family way, and none of it is flattering. So, Felicia leaves her rural village and her family and goes off in search of Johnny, having nothing more than the vaguest of ideas where he might be.

She crosses the Irish Sea and arrives in the English Midlands in the industrial city of Birmingham, as she believes Johnny to be working in a lawn mower factory there. In her search for Johnny, she runs into the portly catering manager for one of the local factories. His name is Joseph Ambrose Hilditch, and he is outwardly a jovial and agreeable man, well-liked by his co-workers and meticulous about his culinary repasts. He lives in solitary splendor in the large house in which he grew up. There, he concocts lavish gourmet meals, while watching tapes of his deceased mother's television show, as she was a chef of some renown. Obviously, he was quite close to his mother, and he still misses her. The house is cluttered with collectibles but is well-kept, although decorated in the style of a bygone era. Mr. Hilditch is, indeed, a collector, but his collection is initially far beyond Felicia's imaginings. In fact, Mr. Hilditch has a darker side to him, which is not immediately discernible by the unwary.

When Felicia first meets Mr. Hilditch, it is to ask for information in connection with her fool's errand, but something about her catches Mr. Hilditch's fancy, and he finds himself keeping Felicia in his crosshairs. When Felicia seemingly unexpectedly runs into Mr. Hilditch again, he directs her to lodgings, and so it begins. As Mr. Hilditch insinuates himself ever so slowly into her life, weaving a fantasy about his own life that is sure to put her mind at ease about him. Felicia begins finding herself ensnared by this ostensibly kind and ever so helpful, avuncular man, and she initially fails to see the darkness that lies at the core of his being. The viewer, however, is given sneak peaks into some of his peculiarities and deceits.

Bob Hoskins is magnificent in the role of Mr. Hilditch, infusing the character with an avuncular charm that sits as a thin veneer over the cauldron of seething emotion within, emotions that cause Mr. Hilditch to act in ways most others would not. The viewer sees what Felicia fails to see, until it is almost too late, the duplicity and cunning that is masked by his overt geniality and seeming kindness. Like a spider to the fly, our teddy bearish Mr. Hilditch begins laying his trap, and so Felicia's journey thrusts her into the belly of the beast. Newcomer, Eileen Cassidy is quite good as Felicia, playing her with a naiveté that is central to the character. Unlike the character of Mr. Hilditch, who physically stays true to the Mr. Hilditch of the book, the Felicia of the film differs physically. Instead of a pail, puling, nun like blonde, the viewer is presented with a robust looking, fresh-faced brunette.

The cinematography is excellent, and the interior of Mr. Hilditch's home is magnificent, as it evokes another era, miring Mr. Hilditch in happier times while at home. The musical soundtrack is used to good effect to maintain that evocation. The director, Atom Egoyan, who also wrote the screenplay, does a fairly good job of adapting the book to the screen, given some of the constraints inherent in the book. Where the film fails somewhat is in the exploration of the darker corners of the human psyche, although he maintains the cat and mouse game that is central to the story. While the mind of Mr. Hilditch is dark, indeed, unlike the book, there are no unspeakable revelations in the film as to what lies at the heart of his predilection. What the director substitutes does not really satisfy the viewer as to why Mr. Hilditch does what he does.

The film, however, manages to show how each of these two flawed human beings were initially able to achieve a connection with another, only to find ostensible betrayal. What is decidedly different is the way that they each cope with that betrayal. Moreover, the book has no happily-ever-after ending to its story, which culminates with a conclusion that is quite bleak, robbing the reader of some satisfaction. The film's conclusion differs from that of the book, and while less bleak, is also somewhat unsatisfactory but, perhaps, only so to those who may have already read the book. As in the book, the journey that Felicia makes is larger in scope than merely a trip across the Irish Sea. August 11, 2005

Theater, Film & Music

Like "Exotica," Felicia's Journey focuses on impossible dreams, but murders we never see are the reality in the background. Wonderful music links what will never be with what we do not want to know. Lost girl (Elaine Cassidy) receives lots of help from too-lonely professional(Bob Hoskins),who turns out to be a serial killer. His victims come to life in one-minute video clips - a great theater mask - you know they're already dead. "Rest in Peace" sung in Gaelic by Kate Crossan during the final credits is a gorgeous emotional reconciliation. July 26, 2005

An ugly secret is behind the door!

This is a low-key psychological thriller about a relationship between a hunger of love young woman with an older man that maintains two well definite profiles. So this ambigous character will spark the screen.

Felicia is simple woman who is pregnant, a fact that she will keep secret from her family as well Johnny, her boyfriend. So after a long and unhappy search, she will go to Birmingham to intend rebuild a new life. But the mysterious and enigmatic presence of Hildtich will seem to fit perfectly for her hopes and illusions.

The loneliness and the double moral will meet in this crossroad emotional picture. As you know, Hoskins is one the top actors in the world and this role comes to him as ring to finger.

Atom Egoyan a first class director has built a very intersting film without any fissure. This work deserved the prize as Best Canadian Film in 1999 so consider this factor as another positive point.

Recommended without any reserve!

March 31, 2005

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