Agnès Merlet's fourth feature film, a French, Irish and Swedish co-production titled "Hideaways", will be presented today in the Spotlight section of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, which began yesterday. The director of "Son of the Shark" (nominated for a César for Best Debut Film in 1994), "Artemisia" (nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998) and "Dorothy Mills" (50,000 spectators in France in 2008 and 350,000 worldwide in 2009) continues his original career with a new English-language romantic drama that mixes realism and supernatural elements.
James Furlong (Harry Treadaway) comes from a strange lineage. All of the men in her family exhibit special powers under certain circumstances. Your grandfather goes blind for about thirty-seven minutes whenever he thinks about sex. When your father gets scared, all the mechanical devices break down. And James' power, even before he was born, manifests itself in the death of his mother. Agnes Merlet's dark fairy tale begins under these magical and mesmerizing circumstances, complete with narration from Mae-West O'Mara, played by Rachel Hurd-Wood, a character we won't see for a good fifteen minutes. The power of death continues to grow in James; that is, killing everything around him - cows, grass, flowers, his grandmother, his father... all his classmates at reform school... And so, at the age of eight, James runs away to the forest, to lead a solitary life. Ten years later is where Mae finds him, having escaped from the cancer ward in what was once a reform school, now a hospital; huddled in a cabin, nestled in a forest of dead things.
As rich as this prologue is, "Hideaways" ends up being very simple most of the time. And that's where the film faces some narrative problems that downgrade it from something the audience could simply love, to a film with beautiful passages and some frustratingly monotonous sections. Rachel Hurd-Wood's narration as Mae-West O'Mara adds an additional layer of charm and mystery to the story, creating a dark and captivating fairy tale atmosphere. The initial promise of a world full of magic and supernatural powers is fascinating and leaves viewers eager to explore more of this unique universe. However, the film eventually focuses primarily on the relationship between James and Mae, losing some of the complexity and magic that was established at the beginning. The development of the characters, especially Mae's, is satisfactory, but the narrative seems to simplify as it progresses.
What works is Tim Fleming's stunning cinematography, which harmonizes so well with Eric Neveux's score, oh how the tears swell in your eyes with just the faintest hint of strings playing over a row of sun-bleached trees (and that's not corny, I tell you). Reminiscent of a fairytale painting, evoking expressionist cinema, in the end, the appearance is very naturalistic, aiming as much at penetrating within the character of a fern or a bush as at sculpting the human face; and this is never for show, no image is hollow. When the light hits Mae's eyes, it's as if you can see entire worlds being born and endlessly destroyed within them... hyperbole, hyperbole, hyperbole... this is a true feast for the eyes.
Rachel Hurd-Wood, cast in smaller, independent works since 2003's "Peter Pan" and "Perfume," is apparently (as these earlier films would suggest) a contemporary descendant of the women in Grimm and company's tales. The pathos of Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty runs through her veins. Mae, suffering from her own hereditary family curse of cancer, is curious, kind, and very resilient. Hurd-Wood's chemistry with Treadaway is instant, the two are a joy to watch, and their romance is the heart of the film. While yes, the path he takes is expected, much of what happens is still captivating, except for the fact that their romance cannot fill the entire film, at least in its current form, and so there is a rather lazy attempt to bring in more conflict. In the form of an antagonist. Now, what Merlet and screenwriter Nick Murphy present fits with the rest of the story and is very interesting in idea, but somehow feels sloppy in execution, coming too late. The risks are definite and yet the tension feels forced. This, and a few other minor structural and narrative choices, detract from the film, not too much, but enough to color its waters with rust.
Given the superficiality of this predictable story, hope should have resided in the direction. However, unfortunately, Agnès Merlet makes unfortunate choices. The adorable young actor (James Wilson) who played James Furlong as a child is replaced by Harry Treadaway, whose acting skills - like most of the cast - are modest, to say the least. The settings - a hospital amidst vast vegetation and a devastated forest with artificial plasticity - end up becoming tiring due to their lack of variety and excessive use of color. However, the most disturbing aspect is the director's tendency to never transcend her story and to mark each turning point, however predictable, with heavy symbolism. It's surprising to see a filmmaker highlight her film's weaknesses so much. This is not about questioning the choice to place "Hideaways" in a romantic and symbolic context, but rather about denouncing the thickness of the direction, which becomes indigestible when with every touch, every kiss, every hug between lovers, we are forced watching a repetitive close-up of that plant blooming, or when she scans the scar on James' friend as he explains how he became disabled. At this point, it is no longer about symbols, but about repetitions, and, hampered by so many mistakes, the film ends up becoming simply embarrassing.
Faced with an introduction that does not shy away from spouting blood and multiplying tragedies, it is extremely disappointing that "Hideaways" allows itself to be carried away by the wave of sugary fantasy novels driven by "Twilight" and gives up much of the strength of its premise by insisting on take the transformative power of love to a literal level. With this, screenwriter Nick Vincent Murphy and Merlet waste an intriguing premise and a protagonist with devastating internal conflicts by betting on a foolish, abrupt and unconvincing romance that, as already mentioned, transforms love into a literal transformative power within the universe of film. Although admissible, the concept causes discomfort for a few reasons: gaps in the Furlong family's past are opened, and due to the poverty or scarcity of metaphors, the concept sounds arbitrary - and the most the script does in this sense is to try to bring the couple together through their suffering in common, that is, the subjection to harmful genetic inheritances, since not even the fact that one takes lives and the other is about to die is not well used by the film.
Other narrative choices also harm the film. The director tends to overemphasize symbolism, making it almost redundant. Instead of subtle symbols that enrich the story, it feels like we are being subjected to tiresome repetitions, which detracts from the viewer's experience. But despite these flaws, "Hideaways" is a remarkable film that deserves recognition. The stunning cinematography and the chemistry between the protagonists are highlights that cannot be ignored. Agnès Merlet shows her unique vision, although at times she seems overwhelmed by symbolism. Overall, this is a dark and poetic fairy tale that may captivate those looking for a love story with a supernatural twist, even if it has its narrative ups and downs.
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