In a small village in Western Ireland, a fisherman named Circus (Colin Farrell) finds one day on the net of his fishing barge a woman who calls herself Ondine (Polish actress Alicja Bachleda Curus). The woman is disoriented and refuses to see other people. He gets her living arrangements in a old shack that belonged to his deceased mother. He tends to believe she is a mythical creature called a Selkie, a mermaid like creature from Irish folklore. She encourages him to believe this. They become increasingly warm to each other, and while she at first refuses to see other people, she slowly relents, and becomes friendly with his sick wheelchair bound young daughter. For the first hour, this film seems tender, attractive and entertaining; however, in the second part of the movie, it takes a turn for the worse (Warning: BIG SPOILER AHEAD) as it transpires than instead of a mythical figure, Ondine is a drug mule from Eastern Europe on the run from drug dealers. And our interest drops like a stone. Neil Jordan directed.

Ondine had so much going for it: Neil Jordan, Colin Farrell, Stephen Rea, the southwest coast of Ireland, the selkie myth, the complexity of modern Ireland. But the film was surprisingly poor. It starts off very promising, and that promise is a film that offers an interesting mix of fairy tale and realism. But the mix gets muddled about halfway through, and the last twenty minutes are ridiculously poor. The scenery is beautiful. Colin Farrell at his most handsome. The soundtrack is lovely. But the acting, across the board, is mediocre -- primarily, I think, because the screenplay just doesn't hold up. But I also think the little girl is weak, and woman who plays Ondine is just vacuous, not mysterious. I forced myself to watch it a second time, just in case I just came to it with false expectations, and found it to be worse the second time around. Once you know the ending, you can see that the earlier scenes don't add up: they were "tricks" that the film plays on you.

Ondine brought together some sweet stuff - the beautiful Irish coastline, a mythological Selkie sea creature, a struggling fisherman whose life wasn't quite on track. At least two or three original, refreshing films could have taken off from there.But no luck. Less than half way through, I felt stuck in a contrived, overwrought plot that lost all touch with its unique starting point. A creative opportunity missed.Granted, Ondine has magnificent scenery and music. An interesting premise. Fine actors. But the film wastes all of these and hurries itself into just another Hollywood play by the numbers script. By the end of the movie I was completely bored, not caring how any of it worked out.I second the complaints about the lack of English subtitles. Yes, if you focus you'll get most of what's said. But when native English speakers are losing 10-15% of the dialogue then there's no excuse for not including English subtitles on the DVD.

The colors of the water, sky, and coastline are infusing. The storyline very nicely captures the greater meaning people seek in the initial stage of love affair and then very abruptly cuts into the reality of it. It pertained to the necessity of acceptance for continuity and/or to the finale for the lack of it. Personally, I didn't see the girl as "the skinny wanna-be lingerie model" as some have criticized previously, but quiet contrary- she played her part of NETHER-BEING well! The lovers were portrayed as they almost always traditionally are- in a need to save one another, to help one another and they were matched in terms of their particular needs. Both key characters' compassion for life, despite their vices or imperfections, shows in their genuine affection towards the little girl, as well as in their regard for and reliance on little girl's psychological strength.