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Felicia's Journey (film)

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Felicia's Journey
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAtom Egoyan
Written byAtom Egoyan
Based onFelicia's Journey
by William Trevor
Produced byBruce Davey
Starring
CinematographyPaul Sarossy
Edited bySusan Shipton
Music byMychael Danna
Production
companies
Distributed byArtisan Entertainment
Release dates
  • 8 October 1999 (1999-10-08) (UK)
  • 12 November 1999 (1999-11-12) (U.S.)
Running time
116 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
Canada
Languages
  • English
  • French
  • Irish Gaelic
Box office$824,295

Felicia's Journey is a 1999 British-Canadian psychological thriller film written and directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Elaine Cassidy and Bob Hoskins.[1] It is based on the prize-winning 1994 novel of the same name by William Trevor. It was entered into the 1999 Cannes Film Festival and won four Genie Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay.

Plot

Felicia, a teenager in Northern Ireland, travels to Birmingham, England, hoping to find Johnny, the boyfriend who made her pregnant but who then left to join the British Army without leaving an address.

After taking a ferry to England and beginning a hopeless search to find the lawnmower factory in Birmingham where she believes Johnny now works, Felicia encounters an older man, Joseph Hilditch, a catering manager at a factory, who is also the son of Gala, an eccentric TV chef who enjoyed fame in past decades. Hilditch regularly watches the old programmes of his presumably-deceased mother while he cooks her recipes and collects material about her. Hilditch offers to help Felicia; however, his motives for doing so are initially unclear, and it is subsequently suggested through flashback sequences that he has in the past befriended but then turned on vulnerable young women.

Hilditch refers Felicia to a bed and breakfast and offers to drive her in his Morris Minor[2] to a factory that he suggests could be the one she is looking for that is on the way to the hospital where the unmarried Hilditch claims he is going to visit his wife. Felicia fails to find Johnny at the factory; but, while she is out of the car, Hilditch goes through her bags and steals her money. Subsequently, Felicia comes across a Jamaican Christian witness who offers Felicia a free overnight stay at a church hostel. While staying at the hostel, Felicia discovers that her money has gone and, after appearing to accuse others at the home of stealing the money, flees the hostel for Hilditch's house.

Hilditch has meanwhile discovered Johnny's whereabouts, in the barracks where he is still serving with the British Army, but does not disclose this to Felicia. He does however tell her that his wife has died and that she suggested that Felicia abort her unborn child. After the abortion, which Hilditch pays for, he takes her back to his house and gives her an overdose of sleeping pills. As she is passing out he explains that he has 'helped' many other vulnerable girls but 'lays them to rest' when they decide it is time to leave him. While digging out in his garden, the Jamaican Christian parishioner and a new convert enter his yard and begin to preach about Jesus. The Christian reveals that Felicia had told her about Hilditch, saying he was a kind but troubled man. Hilditch feels flashes of guilt and confesses that he did, in fact, steal from and cheat Felicia so that she would return to him. He explains that he feels lonely, and the horrified Christians get up and leave. Upstairs in the house, Felicia awakens from her sleep and struggles down the stairs. Hilditch finds her trying to escape the house but allows her to leave. He later walks to his kitchen, where he hangs himself with a pair of tights.

Cast

Release

Felicia's Journey was released on 8 October 1999 in the United Kingdom to "critical acclaim" according to the British Council. The film was previewed as closing film of the New York Film Festival on 10 October 1999 before being released on 12 November 1999 in the United States.[3][4]

Reception

Critical response

Felicia's Journey received positive reviews from critics, as the film holds an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 41 reviews.

The Guardian critic Philip French noted it was the first "big screen" film set in Birmingham that he had ever seen.[2]

Empire magazine critic Trevor Lewis noted it was "Beautiful, haunting, and chillingly powerful, this displays the usual Egoyan strengths, but suffers a little from his stylistic flourishes."[5]

The New York Times film critic Stephen Holden noted Felicia's Journey was "restricted by its genre and by the limitations of its two main characters" but added that "Visually, and in its soundtrack of overlapping voices, the film sustains a mood of heightened consciousness, implying a world of surreal, only half-discernible connections in which weather, music, landscape, media and the chance encounters of strangers all suggest an enticing if slightly ominous sense of a grand design."[6]

Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, film critic Roger Ebert described it as having "Hitchcockian humor" and noted "You leave Felicia's Journey appreciating it. A week later, you're astounded by it."[7]

Accolades

The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.[8] It was nominated for 10 Genie Awards following the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's decision to revise rules allowing films with only a minority of Canadian involvement in production to compete, with also allowed Sunshine to be nominated for 14.[9]

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Genie Awards 2000 Best Motion Picture Bruce Davey Nominated [9][10]
Best Direction Atom Egoyan Nominated
Best Actor Bob Hoskins Won
Best Actress Elaine Cassidy Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Atom Egoyan Won
Best Cinematography Paul Sarossy Won
Best Costume Design Sandy Powell Nominated
Best Score Mychael Danna Won
Best Sound Daniel Pellerin, Keith Elliott, Peter Kelly and Brian Simmons Nominated
Best Sound Editing Steve Munro, Sue Conley, Andy Malcolm, Tim Roberts and David Drainie Taylor Nominated
Satellite Awards January 16, 2000 Best Actress – Motion Picture, Drama Elaine Cassidy Nominated [11]
Toronto Film Critics Association December 16, 1999 Best Canadian Film Runner-up [12]


References

  1. ^ "Felicia's Journey (1999)". BFI. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b French, Phillip (10 October 1999). "Felicia's Journey". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  3. ^ "British Council Film: Felicia's Journey". film-directory.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  4. ^ "'Felicia's Journey': A Surreal and Subtle Thriller". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  5. ^ "Felicia's Journey". Empire. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  6. ^ "'Felicia's Journey': A Surreal and Subtle Thriller". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  7. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Felicia's Journey movie review (1999) | Roger Ebert". https://www.rogerebert.com/. Retrieved 12 August 2021. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  8. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Felicia's Journey". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  9. ^ a b Kelly, Brendan (13 December 1999). "Genies bottle 'Sunshine,' 'Journey' for kudo noms". Variety. Vol. 377, no. 5. p. 8.
  10. ^ "Sunshine, Felicia's Journey top Genie Awards". CBC News. 31 January 2000. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  11. ^ "Felicia's Journey". International Press Academy. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  12. ^ "Past Award Winners". Toronto Film Critics Association. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
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