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Susan Granger's review of "FELICIA'S JOURNEY" (Artisan Entertainment)
In 1997, Canadian writer/director Atom Egoyan made an incredible splash with his wildly unconventional The Sweet Hereafter, but this new thriller, while superbly crafted, is neither as compelling nor original. But that doesn't mean it's unworthy. Adapted from William Trevor's novel, it follows the insidious story of Felicia, a good-hearted, pregnant Irish country girl (Elaine Cassidy), who goes to England to search for the child's father (Peter McDonald) and is befriended by Joseph Hilditch, a seemingly gentle and smiling caterer (Bob Hoskins) who works for a factory in industrial Birmingham. While the laborers would obviously prefer simple British fare, the portly Hilditch diligently concocts elaborate recipes on his antique appliances while watching old video-taped cooking programs hosted by his glamorous French mother (Arsinee Khanjian, Egoyan's real-life wife). Aside from his psychotic mother complex, which rivals that of Psycho's Norman Bates, Hilditch has courtly, Old World manners and lives in what appears to be the family mansion - which makes one immediately suspect that he's a dangerous serial killer with corpses in the back yard. Not the trusting young Felicia, however. She's grateful for the "help" he solicitously offers. Problem is: there's no mystery. Egoyan gives away the sinister secret so early in the story that we're just left there, sitting in our seats watching with dread as the tapestry unravels. And it's much more conventional than the quirky Atom Egoyan fare in The Adjuster and Exotica. The scenes stretch on too long and the repetitive flashbacks defuse the tension. Nevertheless, Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa) delivers yet another dead-on characterization, one that he describes as "a cross between Jack the Ripper and Winnie the Pooh." On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, Felicia's Journey is a stylish if shallow 7. It's a bizarre, macabre trip.
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