The Fundy Film Society

La fée (The Fairy)

La fée (The Fairy)
This charming fable is an homage to silent cinema, directed by and featuring three Belgian comic masters, Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy. Abel plays Dom, the daydreaming night porter at a cheap hotel in the industrial seaport of Le Havre, France. Gordon plays Fiona, a mysterious guest who arrives without shoes and offers him three wishes in exchange for a room.

Dom asks for a moped and a lifetime supply of gasoline before running out of ideas. He falls hard for Fiona, despite the fact that she is as nutty as a fruitcake. They spend time together at the Love Is Blurred cafe, where a myopic waiter (Romy) serves beer with great difficulty. Fiona suddenly vanishes, sending Dom on a frantic search. Not surprisingly, he finds her at a local mental hospital, where she is a patient.

The nonsensical and sparsely worded script is just an excuse for elaborate chase sequences and contortionist routines. A high-speed getaway involving a baby on the trunk of a car sounds scarier than it is, and this artfully composed movie is bathed in a warm light.

“This is the third feature by the three gifted stars, who deftly pull off hilarious, nearly wordless slapstick routines reminiscent of Jacques Tati, Buster Keaton and Jerry Lewis. Funniest is Dom’s escape from the hospital with Fiona; close behind is Fiona’s shoplifting spree. You’ll get a kick out of The Fairy, even if you don’t believe in fairies.” (V.A. Musetto, New York Post)

“One’s enjoyment of The Fairy depends a lot on knowing why it’s worth seeing. It’s a comedy with two or three big laughs, but it’s not side-splitting. Nor does it have a particularly compelling story. Its appeal is rather in watching people who have devised their own original style of comic performance and have taken it to a rare level of refinement. Seeing Abel and Gordon is like finally seeing the real version of something you’ve previously only seen imitated. They are as in control of the comic tone as they are of their movements – and they move beautifully.” (Mick LaSalle, The San Francisco Chronicle)