IMDb > Photographing Fairies (1997)
Photographing Fairies
Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotes
Overview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditstv schedule
Awards & Reviews
user commentsexternal reviewsnewsgroup reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guiderecommendationsmessage board
Plot & Quotes
plot summarysynopsisplot keywordsAmazon.com summarymemorable quotes
Fun Stuff
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQ
Other Info
merchandising linksbox office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specslaserdisc detailsDVD detailsliterature listingsNewsDesk
Promotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo gallery
External Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clips

Photographing Fairies (1997) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
6.7/10   1,437 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
No change in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Chris Harrald (written by)
Steve Szilagyi (book)
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Photographing Fairies on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
19 September 1997 (UK) more
Genre:
Plot:
Photographer Charles Castle is numbed with grief following the death of his beautiful bride. He goes off to war... more | add synopsis
Awards:
5 wins & 3 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Mink scores ‘Alice in Wonderland’ miniseries
 (From MovieScore Magazine. 14 September 2009, 7:09 AM, PDT)

Rebecca Hall & More Join Dorian Gray
 (From Dread Central. 8 August 2008, 12:23 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
A superb British Fantasy more (34 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Toby Stephens ... Charles Castle
Emily Woof ... Linda

Ben Kingsley ... Reverend Templeton
Frances Barber ... Beatrice Templeton
Philip Davis ... Roy (as Phil Davis)
Hannah Bould ... Clara Templeton
Miriam Grant ... Ana Templeton

Rachel Shelley ... Mrs. Anne-Marie Castle
Edward Hardwicke ... Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Clive Merrison ... Gardner
Stephen Churchett ... Mr. Dawson

Mary Healey-Pisano ... Mrs. Dawson
Maggie Wells ... Mrs. Hoopdriver
Richenda Carey ... Fierce Woman
Jeremy Young ... Des
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Apparition (Australia) (video box title)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for some sexuality.
Runtime:
106 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Edward Hardwicke, who plays Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has played Conan Doyle's Dr. Watson many times. more
Movie Connections:

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful.
A superb British Fantasy, 14 September 2000
Author: FilmFlaneur from London

Along with other great English fantasy films like The Company of Wolves, Things to Come, The Devil Rides Out and Jonathan Millers's BBC-filmed production of Alice in Wonderland, this is an intelligent and complex production, miles away in mood and concern from the typical American product. In a film that reminds one of his father Robert's The Asphyx, (as it also involves the attempt to film the supernatural by nineteenth century photographers) Toby Stephens is ideal as the intense, mourning photographer Castle, haunted by the abrupt death of his wife.

The central concern of the film, that of seeing, or not seeing (or perhaps more perhaps *comprehending*, or not - is established in the opening shot of the film: the blurred face of Castle alone in the group photograph he takes of his wife and others. In an image which anticipates those of the fairies later on, he is the one blurred, here the 'ghost' on his film. Appropriately, in a film full of echoes and symbols, this long shot out from Castle's wife's iris recalls his later, obsessive, photographic enlargement of another eye: that of one of the girls photographed with fairies.

The death of his wife then reduces Castle further, through grief and shock, to a state almost like that of a somnambulist. He walks through life, hovering between the shades, oblivious to fear and the concerns of the real world - as evidenced by the unexploded bomb he encounters without any sense of danger, ticking like the time piece he keeps to remember his wife. Castle doesn't care. He wants to die - a sense of foreboding which stays with the viewer from the beginning to the end of the film. He even 'photographs the dead' in his studio, witnessed by his work for the soldier's parents. Even when a new sexual relationship becomes a possibility, later in the film, he cannot rejoin this aspect of life though spiritual malaise.

This thread is continued later in the scene later where Castle enters the church to hear a sermon by the bereaved Kingsley. Earlier that morning he has taken the flower-drug and has 'died' watching the fairies. Now he appears, bloodied like a victim in Macbeth, as the pale ghost at the ceremony..

Castle's attempt to photograph fairies, spirits who hover between life and death, is obviously an attempt to capture something back from the spirit world that has captured his wife. Such is the delicacy and subtlety of the films structure and symbolism, however, that at the end one could feasibly argue that Castle actually died with his wife on the mountain and - rather like in The Occurrence At Owl Bridge Creek - what has happened since the opening scenes has just been the dream of a dying man!

Performances are generally excellent (although Ben Kingsley's wig and stare are slightly disconcerting). Those who found the actual fairies disappointing in effect were perhaps expecting something grander. Some of Castle's hallucinations reminded me of Jacob's Ladder and Kingsley's demise of the killer's suicide in Peeping Tom.

As a last instance of the film's care with presentation and sophistication, one may take the music. The chief elements that reoccur are a sombre dirge like bass-motif and a light waltz. Only at the end of the film does recognise that the bass-motif is an altered element of the famous Beethoven slow movement which plays throughout the last few scenes. Like Castle himself, it is transfigured - or 'completed' by events.



Was the above comment useful to you?
more (34 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Photographing Fairies (1997)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Something Sir Arthur Conan Doyle told Charles Stormwillow
This film deserves a DVD jbw23
Background music name unknown pinetc
Another Doyleian trivia bit - 2 Watsons and a Holmes! clevergirl43
Showing tonight on BBC2 12.40 !! thetallman67
Angels Trumpets? strontiaom90
more

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
Sunshine The Unbearable Lightness of Being Excalibur FairyTale: A True Story Un long dimanche de fiançailles
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
News articles IMDb Drama section IMDb UK section
Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.