NO SUCH THING

US, 2001, 102 minutes. Colour.
Sarah Polley, Helen Mirren, Julie Christie, Robert John Burke, Baltasar Kormakur.
Directed by Hal Hartley.

No Such Thing is a strange concoction. It is a blend of Norse mythology and legend with contemporary 21st century life.

The focus is on a monster, played by Robert John Burke, who secedes from the world, violently. Isolated in a house in Iceland, he does violence to anybody who crosses his path, including scientists and the media. However, when a young woman comes to find her fiancé, they form a strange bond and he goes to New York, where he is an object of curiosity, derision, challenge.

The young woman is played by Sarah Polley. Her editor is played by Helen Mirren in strong dominating form. Julie Christie has a smaller role as a sympathetic doctor.

The film was made in Iceland, with Iceland crew and cast. However, it is an international curiosity from writer-director Hal Hartley who has a significant career based on very idiosyncratic films. These include The Unbelievable Truth, Trust, Simple Men, Surviving Desire, Amateur, Henry Fool, The Book of Life and Fay Grim.

1. The work of Hal Hartley, offbeat, oblique?

2. The title, monsters, the comment on legends and monsters? The character of the Monster, his reactions, destruction, people’s fears, placating the Monster? The symbolism of the Monster – the Monster’s point of view? The desire for self-destruction? Comic and serious? The questions to the audience?

3. Iceland, the mysterious land of monsters, the rugged landscapes, remote, the roads, tracks, the coast? The village and the people? The religious background, mythologies? The US base? The contrast with ordinary life, normal people, the rescuers, the hospital and doctors?

4. The challenge of the Monster and his ideology to 21st century beliefs, fears? Creation, nature, destruction?

5. The prologue, the Monster and his appearance, the tape, the equipment, the remote journey? The roar, the reaction of the locals, the visitors, the deaths?

6. The transition to New York, the glossy magazine, ordinary life, trash stories? Magazines and sensationalism? The contrast between sensationalism and reality? Exaggeration? The editor, mocking, ruthless? The staff, the quests? Television? The view of the audiences?

7. Beatrice, her age, her love for her fiancé, her relationship with the boss? Going to the meetings, looking for stories, deciding to go to Iceland, the passage being arranged by the boss? Beatrice and her flight, the change of routes, the crash, the assumption that she was dead, reactions? Her survival?

8. Beatrice in Iceland, the rescue? The long time in hospital, the doctors, especially Doctor Anna and her care? The operation, pain and suffering, recovery? The recuperation time?

9. The decision to go on the quest, travelling the Iceland countryside, the horse, walking? Finding the community, their way of life, their reactions?

10. The Monster, meeting the Monster, his attitude towards people, the roar? The Beauty and the Beast situation? Talking, learning, his history, reactions? Beatrice persuading him to go to New York? Agreement?

11. The boss and her reaction? The staff? The Monster going to New York? Dressed yet still monstrous? Appearing to the media, talking, the reaction of the media?

12. The effect on him, New York hedonism and way of life?

13. Beatrice, her encounter with the young man, the change?

14. Artaud, his appearance and age, expertise, his arrival, theories, the reaction?

15. The end, the fate of the Monster? The 21st century western world and confronting monsters? Fear, the dark? The reasons for fear, the reasons for monsters?