Ondine

Ondine stars Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda, and Dervla Kirwan. It takes the selkie myth (the myth of the seal woman) and brings it to the big screen.

Ondine tells the story of a lonely fisherman, Syracuse played by Farrell, struggling with alcoholism and the break-up of his marriage. One day he hauls in his nets, and finds a lovely, half-drowned young woman, Ondine played by Bachleda, amongst the flapping fish. Ondine claims to be afraid of meeting other people, so he offers her the shelter of his dead mother's abandoned cottage in a beautiful secluded inlet. They swiftly fall in love, and when Syracuse's catches miraculously improve and Ondine sings haunting melodies in a foreign tongue, he starts to believe she might be a denizen of some aquatic fairy world. Meanwhile, Syracuse's invalid child, Annie, sniffs out his secret romance, and is fully convinced of the mysterious stranger's otherworldly origins - and of ancient legends that foretell the destruction of her father's happiness with his new beloved. These forebodings soon take shape in the arrival of two sinister adversaries from Ondine's past life, which leads to a dangerous crisis.

It's rare to find a film with such a skillful blending of folklore and magic realism-- complemented by some fine acting performances. While this is not a great film, but it is worth watching.