ScreenWize

Director Gillian Armstrong refers to Harry Houdini as the rock star of his time, such was his fame and following. Best known as a magician and escapologist, he was also a skeptic, pursuing so-called psychics and exposing their tricks. Yet Houdini (real name Ehrich Weiss) wasn’t short of deception and trickery himself, and knew how to manipulate the desire that audiences have for the improbable to his own advantage. Armstrong takes these real aspects of Harry Houdini’s life and blends them with fiction to create a love story told through the eyes of a psychic child.

Guy Pearce plays Houdini as he arrives in Edinburgh in the 1920’s. After performing his famous Water Torture Cell escape for adoring crowds, he issues a challenge - and a $10,000 dollar prize - for anyone who can prove that they can speak with the dead. The money attracts a range of dodgy characters to Houdini’s plush hotel rooms, including the beautiful Mary McGregor (Catherine Zeta-Jones) an experienced vaudeville performer and con artist, who knows that research and good planning are the only way to play this kind of game. Assisted by her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) Mary tries to find a way to get the $10,000, but the growing romance between her and Houdini start to confuse her ambition.

Building an intimate story around three characters, particularly a story of love and deception, requires extreme care with character motivation, and there’s something amiss in this department. It’s a slow starter, focusing on the back-story of mother and daughter, and their intentions are clear enough when the story gets underway in earnest. Unfortunately there’s little to explain Houdini’s real interest in these two, especially when he is such an avowed skeptic and – we’re told – so happily married. The point perhaps is that we all – even those most cynical – want to believe in the wonder of magic and the possibility of life after death – but this idea is either lost in the frequently ponderous screenplay or in Guy Pearce’s less than charismatic performance. His Houdini – no doubt meant to be a complex mix of showy confidence and uncertainty – is merely one or the other when the story requires, and the romance lacks credibility as a result. Catherine Zeta Jones is at her best when playing deceptive, but her character has nowhere in particular to go. It’s Saoirse Ronan (recently seen in Atonement) who really shines as the young observer of events. It’s a good looking film but the emotion escaped.

Rating:

Filed Under: Reviews by Simon