Franklyn is a beautiful movie about four lives touched by mental illness. One deals with a long forgotten coping mechanism, one with self-destruction and one with the effects of religious fervor in a tale that twists together fantasy and reality, future and past. It is a film that grips the viewer and tells a beautiful story of the power of love, despite some minor issues the viewer might have with the script and production design.
As Franklyn begins we are introduced to Jonathan Preest who, we are told, is going to kill a man tonight. He is searching for a man called only The Individual who has kidnapped a young girl and murdered her as a sacrifice in his religion. We follow him through Meanwhile City, a place where faith is required, even if it’s based on the instructions for a washing machine. When he is given up to the authorities, a group of police-type officers called Clerics, by one of his informants, he is imprisoned for 4 years for his crimes against religion. When The Individual returns to Meanwhile City, Preest is released by his captors to find and stop The Individual once and for all.
As if that is not enough, mixed in with Preest’s story is the story of three people. Emilia is an artist who has lost her way. Her relationship with her mother has deteriorated and she has left her studies at an art school to create grotesque and risky work that threatens to destroy her completely – inside and out. Milo is a young man who has been left at the altar by his fiance and doesn’t know what to do. He remembers a girl from his childhood and how much he cared for her. Milo begins a search for her, believing that it may be his destiny to be with her. Finally is the story of Peter Esser a man who is looking for his son, a war veteran who returned mentally ill and who has left the care of the hospital. Frantically he searches for some sign of his son as he navigates the world of London’s soup kitchens and homeless shelters and discovers something about his son that he didn’t want to know.
Franklyn tells a wonderful story in each of its parts – Milo’s about the innocence of love; Emilia’s about how destructive lies can be; Peter’s about how love sometimes isn’t enough; Preest’s pointing out some significant limitations of the way religion is applied today. Unfortunately, as part of the narrative, Preest’s tale needs to take place in a stempunk-y futuristic world which is so immersive and engrossing that the audience’s attention wants to stay there rather than to fluidly move between all four stories. In fact, the movie about Preest would have been a great one on its own – and wildly successful. It’s a shame that it’s been tossed in, half complete, to a movie about a very relevant and powerful topic.
Despite this small narrative defect the movie is actually quite wonderful. Due to the winding way in which it chooses to tells its story it does require patience on behalf of the viewer, something that few movies require these days, making it stand out above the crowd. Packed with very talented actors like Eva Green and Sam Riley the performances are compelling, which they need to be to keep the audience interested in each story as the film flips through the four stories.
The art direction was also spectacular. Meanwhile City is a creation on the scale of Alex Proyas’ Dark City and equally as engrossing. It’s a shame that this portion of the story feels a little tacked on and unnecessary in the final reveal. Emilia’s art, while deeply disturbing, is compelling and soul-bearing.
I believe that Franklyn is certainly worth seeing and I hope that it will get a theatrical release to be seen by many, but please remember to have patience with it. The advertising focuses strongly on the Preest and steampunk futuristic alternate reality, but that is not the crux of the movie, only the simplest way to sell it to you.
Toronto After Dark runs from August 14 to 21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Click here for our coverage.
[...] Hirsute is part of Toronto After Dark’s Canadian Short Film Showcase. It played before Franklyn. [...]