Chichester Cinema at New Park
Death Defying Acts
CHICHESTER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
With thanks to Lionsgate UK for these screenings
Gillian Armstrong’s handsome, playful period fantasy imagines a flirtation between the legendary escapologist Harry Houdini and a comely Scottish con-woman, against the picturesque backdrop of 1920s Edinburgh. Guy Pearce plays Houdini as a tough, punchy showman, fuelled by nervous energy and a manic glint of curiosity who, having broken the boundaries of agility, endurance and visual trickery, is frustrated by the solidity of other physical constraints, such as the one preventing communication with his dead mother. Hence his interest in psychics, his zeal to find the real thing has making him the greatest debunker of his time. This, however, doesn’t dissuade plucky Mary (Catherine Zeta-Jones) from having a go – but she intrigues Houdini with rather more than just her dubious “gift”.
Stunts and illusions from the age of vaudeville have been a particular draw for filmmakers in recent times, and Death Defying Acts shares some of the sweeping, glitter-dusted romanticism that suffused Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige and Neil Burger’s The Illusionist. The focus of Death Defying Acts is less on Houdini’s work, however, than on his character – and most specifically his fascination with Mary. Mary is the mother of a tomboy girl, Benji (recent Oscar® nominee Saoirse Ronan), and upon seeing them together Houdini begins to associate her with his own lost mother. Their romance is entwined with his obsession with contacting the dead, and so takes on a morbid air. Benji dreams of the lovers tethered together underwater – while Houdini sees Mary posed in underwear and his mother’s wedding veil. Armstrong has dwelt before upon relationships that are forbidden, or better sacrificed than pursued, in My Brilliant Career, Oscar and Lucinda and Charlotte Gray. Death Defying Acts adds the sad but knowing twist that a life lived shrouded in superstition and fantasy can sometimes serve a man better than full engagement with real-world responsibilities.
(Tickets £7)
UK · 
Australia · 2007 · Gillian Armstrong · 97min
