The book is delightful
Written: Feb 11 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The film is good, the book is better
Cons: The film misses some of the book's fun
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| bruns_rick's Full Review: Photographing Fairies |
Today's clear-eyed rationalist will wonder how people ever thought that little fairies could be seen. More preposterous still, photographic proof of their existence was presented to an astonished world. This happened long ago, but we should not be surprised, since the most popular publications on the checkout line today are the tabloids that offer pictures of all sorts of fantasies.
It's an ideal subject for a historical novel and a natural story for a film. What's remarkable is how differently the novelist and filmmaker have told the same story, and that makes reading the book very much worthwhile.
The film is romantic in the dark, doomed sense, as the photographer Thomas Castle (Toby Stephens) -- scarred by losses in love and war -- undertakes to expose the fairy hoax. A photographic exhibition has the backing of the renowned Arthur Conan Doyle, who was not only the creator of Sherlock Holmes but also investigated things occult and mystical. In a nice casting touch, Doyle is played by Edward Hardwicke, who was Dr. Watson opposite Jeremy Brett in the British television series.
The screen version radically alters certain characters, especially the righteous Reverend Drain, played by Ben Kinsgley, and the plot of the book, in pursuit of menacing suspense.
In his first novel, Szilagyi, a writer and illustrator, seems to have written the tale with a stylus dipped in sparkling inks. In the first person, we see this adventure unfold with a pixillated wit that revels in absurdity and dream:
"As the fairies pattered over me, I felt myself being blown along as if by a fresh breeze. This splendid zephyr seemed to whisk away the accumulated experience of my adult life like so much dust, baring what lay beneath: that delightful childlike state where fascinations succeed one another without stopping, where curiosity aches and is satisfied and renewed with every glance."
Perhaps only those who are so open to their senses can see what the rest of us do not.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
bruns_rick
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Member: Rick Bruns
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 7 members
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