Featured Film Review
'Tristan & Isolde' 2006 20th Century Fox Staring James Franco, Sophia Myles, Rufus Sewell Length: 125 mins
I had already seen the newest version of 'Tristan & Isolde' when Mab asked me to write a review for it, but I figured another viewing would do me good. And I remember being so concerned with how the filmmakers would rework the Celtic myth that I probably wasn't paying too much attention to all the other details the first time around.
So after kicking the men folk out & planting myself firmly on the couch with a basket of strawberries, some pomegranate juice & my pen & paper for notes, I was ready to begin.
The setting is beautiful & remote - they really filmed in the middle of nowhere in Ireland for a lot of it. The village & fortifications are realistic & set to time. No grand stone castles with turrets or any such. Dark Age daub & wattle huts & wood walled stone forts are nicely done.
It starts off well, with Tristan as a child, showing the tragedy of how he came to Marke's castle, as well as setting up enmities for his adulthood. There is a traitor in their midst, & he stays there for the duration of the movie, which irritated me slightly. I would have killed him the first time, but it does help with the continuity of the movie to see him there.
As for the main characters, the young man playing Tristan did an admirable job. And I was ecstatic that they kept the whole aspect of him being a legendary warrior. The fight scenes were very satisfying. James Franco plays the legendary Tristan (he was also in Spider Man, & played James Dean in a biopic of his life). He shows Tristan's soul well - the honor for Marke, the sorrow for his lost family, & the duty & determination that these things inspire in him. And he certainly does the hot, tempermental guy in such a way that made me wish I was 13 again & would therefore have an excuse to hang his bare chested posters on my walls. :)
I wish I could say the same for Isolde's character. (not the hanging bare chested posters on the wall thing) The actress herself (Sophia Myles - I am not familiar with any other of her works) does a good job - shows the anguish, shock, & resignment of a woman of her day being used as a pawn would have. But they seemed to have written her part very one-dimensionally. She's upset all the time, or seems just fine. They seemed to have 'dumbed down' the strong Celtic woman angle, but stopped before making her a complete wishy washy twit. She's an herbalist, & that knowledge comes into play in the plot. But I was disappointed that there was no super fine wit like in the Celtic stories - no real war of words or minds, excepting a couple amusing exchanges with her father, the Irish King, who I ADORE. I couldn't find his name, but he played the crazy Irishman in Braveheart, & does a fantastic job here as the bad guy. You like him despite everything; just for being a forthright bastard about it.
There is Marke, played terrifically by Rufus Sewell, who played in a TON of things, but the last one I saw him in was 'A Knight's Tale' as the bad guy. He's so handsome & sweet, you feel sorry for him the whole time, & the first time I saw it, the end pissed me off. It seemed to make him the weak one. But the second time around I saw it differently, from the perspective of one who truly loves others, & understands their plight. There is a cousin like character played by a very attractive Englishman who helps flesh out & fill in camaraderie moments/family rivalry with Tristan, as a youth & an adult. Hope to see more of him in the future. :)
The plot is well done, especially for a movie nowadays. There are a couple of interesting turns, & there is some notable Goddess/Otherworld symbolism that I picked up - whether it was on purpose or not I can't tell. The wedding scene with Isolde on the barge; the fact that the lovers meet & leave each other three times by the water, & that by the river where they would rendezvous is where it ends. Though it does not follow any one version of the myth, it is still beautifully done, entertaining, & is definitely worthy of viewing, if you enjoy pieces of that period, love stories, or Celtic flavored ones. I'm glad I took the time out to see it twice, & it will probably stay quite happily on my shelf holding my "PMS" movies for making a unhappy Branwen have a good cry & feel better. :)
Reviewer: Branwen
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