Fidelio (2014)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fidelio: Alice’s Journey is the English title of an unusual French movie which premiered in 2014.

 

Here is some basic information about it:

 

** French title: Fidelio: l’Odyssée d’Alice

** Directed by Lucie Borleteau

** Written by Lucie Borleteau and Clara Bourreau with collaboration from Mathilde Boisseleau

** Released on DVD in 2016

** Run time: 96 minutes

 

The cast includes the following:

 

** Ariane Lebed as Alice Lesage (engineer)

** Melvin Poupaud as Gaël Levasseur (captain)

** Anders Danielsen Lie as Felix Bjørnsen (Alice’s Norwegian boyfriend)

 

Alice is a French engineer who works on cargo ships. She can be away for months while she is sailing round the world. When a job is done and she returns to land, she meets up with her Norwegian boyfriend Felix.

 

When the movie begins, Alice gets a new job: she has to replace an engineer who died suddenly on the job.

 

When she arrives on the ship Fidelio, she is surprised to discover that it is the very ship on which she began her career about ten years earlier. Back then the name of the ship was Eclipse.

 

She is also surprised to discover that the captain of Fidelio is an old flame of hers: Gaël.

 

Alice is the only woman on the ship; the only woman in a man’s world, but this issue is not the subject of much discussion here. Alice is an engineer and she is accepted as such.

 

However, she is also a woman, and she has needs. When the Norwegian boyfriend is not around, she may find someone else to be with. Her motto is “What happens on the ocean, stays on the ocean.” A variation of the classical “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”

 

When Alice is at work, she is dressed as an engineer; when she follows her passion, she is not dressed at all. 

 

This is the reason why this movie is rated as suitable for 15 years and older. If you are offended by graphic scenes, you should stay away from this movie.

 

The title of the movie and the conversation contains several hidden references to the world of music and movies.

 

(1) Fidelio, the name of the ship, is the name of an opera by Beethoven from 1814. In fact, the only opera he ever composed. The topic of this opera is fidelity, which is also the topic of the movie.

 

(2) Odyssey, the journey or the voyage of Alice, is a reference to the ancient Greek author Homer, who wrote two famous works:

 

(A) The war against Troy, known as The Iliad

(B) The Odyssey, the voyage of Ulysses, who is also known as Odysseus

 

(3) Alice, the name of the main character is a reference to Lewis Carroll and his story about Alice and her Adventures in Wonderland from 1865.

 

(4) Eclipse, the former name of the ship, is a reference to the Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni and his movie L'Eclipse from 1962. The Italian title of this movie is L’Eclisse.

 

While these hidden references are subtle and elegant, there is nothing subtle and elegant about Alice’s life as we see it in this movie.

 

She is an engineer and she is a woman. Sometimes she is dressed; sometimes she is not.

 

At first, the story-line is interesting. It is certainly unusual. How many movies have you seen where the main character is a female engineer on a cargo ship?

 

But after a while, it gets a bit boring. 

 

And in the end… Well, I am not sure what happens in the end, which is one more reason for me to say that this movie is not quite successful.

 

What do reviewers say about it?

 

Here are some results:

 

64 percent = IMDb

62 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

82 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

 

On Amazon there are at the moment 17 ratings of this product; 11 with reviews.

 

The average rating is 4.1 stars which corresponds to a rating of 82 percent.

 

If you ask me, the ratings on Amazon and the critics on Rotten Tomatoes are too high, while the rating on IMDb and the audience on Rotten Tomatoes are more appropriate.

 

My reasons are stated above: the story is boring after a while and the ending does not make much sense.

 

I have to remove two stars because of these flaws. This movie deserves a rating of three stars (60 percent).

 

PS. Regarding the language: most of the conversation is in French and covered with English subtitles.

 

When Felix speaks Norwegian to Alice, his words are covered with English subtitles.

 

The Philippine crew-members speak English to other crew-members and Tagalog among themselves.

 

*****