Felicia's Journey (film)

Felicia's Journey
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Atom Egoyan
Written by	Atom Egoyan
Based on	Felicia's Journey by William Trevor
Produced by	Bruce Davey
Starring	Bob Hoskins Elaine Cassidy Peter McDonald Arsinée Khanjian
Cinematography	Paul Sarossy
Edited by	Susan Shipton
Music by	Mychael Danna
Production companies	Alliance Atlantis Communications Icon Entertainment International Icon Productions Marquis Films Ltd. The Movie Network Screenventures XLIII
Distributed by	Artisan Entertainment
Release date	8 October 1999 (1999-10-08) (UK) 12 November 1999 (1999-11-12) (U.S.)
Running time	116 minutes
Countries	United 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."^[4]

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."^[6]

Accolades[]

The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.^[7] 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.^[8]

References[]

External links[]

• Felicia's Journey at IMDb
• Felicia's Journey at Box Office Mojo
• Felicia's Journey at Rotten Tomatoes