TIDELAND

Canada/UK, 2005, 117 minutes, Colour.
Jodelle Ferland, Jeff Bridges, Janet Mc Teer, Jennifer Tilley, Brendan Fletcher.
Directed by Terry Gilliam.

Terry Gilliam has an amazing imagination. An American who has lived in England for almost 40 years, he came to prominence as part of the Monty Python team as well as with his abilities as a cartoonist (which can be seen in Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life). He began directing in the 1970s with Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Jabberwocky. For many, his best film is the surreal Brazil. Others nominate The Fisher King or Twelve Monkeys. His proposed film on Don Quixote with Johnny Depp had to be abandoned and his Brothers Grimm was severely edited by Harvey Weinstein. In the meantime, he made Tideland.

A synopsis would not be all that much help for appreciating Tideland, though one wonders what is happening for much of the time. Tideland is a land of the imagination (from a novel by Mitch Cullin). Filmed in Canada, it is set in a remote area of open fields (and a passing train line). The old, abandoned house is meant to be reminiscent of Psycho, but many of the explicit references are to Alice in Wonderland.

The Alice here is Jeliza Rose, a young girl who lives in her imagination while caring for her burnt-out addict singer father, Jeff Bridges, and her spaced out mother, Jennifer Tilly. When her mother dies, father and daughter return to the old family house where…?

The film really goes in and out of Jeliza Rose’s mind. She is a poised and articulate young girl, marvellously portrayed by Jodelle Ferland – she is in practically every scene and sustains the film. She meets local characters who, in appearance and manner, would be at home in a fantasy: Janet Mc Teer is Dell, partly like a witch, partly home-maker and Brendan Fletcher is Dickens, a young man of 20 whose mind is that of a ten year old boy, and a slow one at that.

Jeliza Rose and Dickens play, innocently flirt, suffer the attacks of Dell. Jeliza Rose also has some small doll’s heads which she often has on her fingers, all with names, with whom she talks – and they talk back as multiple personalities. Jeliza Rose also keeps guard on her dead father whose corpse is lying in state.

As with all Terry Gilliam’s films, this one is striking to look at. But, the plot line is episodic and links between sequences seem tenuous. However, there is a certain attraction which elicits a kind of mesmerised response – and the realisation that this is a film that is meant to be seen more than once.

1.The impact of the film? Enthusiasts? People walking out? Drama and the imagination? Fantasy, dark fantasy and reality? The director’s comment that it was a cross between Psycho and Alice in Wonderland? The visual impact and style of the film? Themes?

2.Canada, the open plains? The fields, the train line, the houses, the roads? An idiosyncratic landscape? The musical score?

3.The title, where was the tideland? Noah and his references to Jutland, the preserved bog people? An American tideland, a tideland of the imagination?

4.Terry Gilliam as director, writer, his films and their imaginative power? Idiosyncratic? Fantasy? An adaptation of a novel? The blend of the bizarre and the normal? Reality and fantasy? The effect on the audience?

5.The structure of the film, the basic narrative, the link of episodes rather than cause and effect?

6.The performance of Jodelle Ferland, in every scene, sustaining the film? Jeliza- Rose? Her age, credibility as a character, audiences observing her, identifying with her? Her wisdom and experience? Her literary imagination? Her emotions – of an eleven-year-old, beyond? Her innocence – even though she had to behave as an adult?

7.Noah, his singing, the old hippy days, reading, the emblems of Jutland, his dreams of going there? The ancient bog people and their being preserved? Living in squalor, the drugs, his relationship his wife? Love for Jeliza- Rose? The mother’s death, the decision to travel, on the train, walking, getting the lift, finding the house? The old house and having to clean it up? Settling in, his taking more drugs, Jeliza- Rose preparing the syringes? His death? The corpse, his lying in state, his being preserved? His being opened, the dolls going into his intestines? The image of the bog people? The reality and symbolism of Noah’s character?

8.The mother, her size, screeching, lazy, eating the chocolates? Her love for her daughter? Her husband? The suddenness of her death and its repercussions?

9.The new house, dirty, in disarray? Settling in? Jeliza- Rose making a new life here? The detail of the house, the rooms, her father settling into the chair, taking the drugs, dying? The dolls, their names, her conversations with the dolls – manifestations of multiple perceptions and personalities?

10.Jeliza- Rose meeting Dell, the effect? Dell and her eye, her clothes, her appearance as a witch? Dell in the past, her relationship with Noah? Doing out his corpse? Her shrine to him and the discovery? Cleaning the house, putting it in order, her relationship with Dickens? Her moods, the meals, orderliness? Her attitude towards the corpse? The madness? Her mother and the body?

11.Dickens, his age, his imagination, mental imbalance, his playing in the fields, in the shelter? The friendship with Jeliza- Rose? The trains going through? His reactions, the shark hunter, the underwater hunting? The talk, sharing, his relationship with Dell? Flirtatious with Jeliza- Rose, the wedding dress, the marriage – audiences uneasy about this kind of relationship? Its not leading to anything? Innocence?

12.Patrick, the visit, the relationship with Dell? Somebody from the outside?

13.The old mother, the memories of the grandmother, her corpse?

14.The strength of the dialogue, insights into human nature, coping? The Psycho experience? The Alice in Wonderland and the references, the reading the text, Jeliza- Rose’s dream and falling?

15.The train crash, the spectacle, Dickens and his responsibility? The disaster, the survivors, Jeliza- Rose walking through the ruins, the compassionate woman offering to care for her?

16.Jeliza- Rose, her choices, staying, Dickens, her future?