On Criterion, I watched the 1999 psychological thriller film Felicia's Journey, written and directed by Atom Egoyan, based on the 1994 novel of the same name by William Trevor. The film centers on two lonely people: Felicia (Elaine Cassidy), an Irish teenager who goes to Birmingham, England to find her boyfriend Johnny; and Joseph (Bob Hoskins), a Birmingham catering manager who is the son of a French TV chef from decades past.
Felicia is pregnant, and her boyfriend Johnny (Peter McDonald) has gone to join the British Army, being seen as a traitor to Ireland by Felicia's widower father. Johnny's mother looks down on Felicia, and her father opposes the relationship, encouraging her to forget Johnny and find another guy. But Felicia is young and idealistic, and doesn't get how Johnny isn't serious about her (he ignores her when he talks to a friend, not introducing her, and he doesn't leave a forwarding address, claiming he'll write her when he gets there). So she travels to Birmingham, with barely any identification, and only has the barest information that Johnny was in the army and works at a lawnmower factory, but doesn't know what factory. She's wandering around on her own, and meets Joseph, a local who offers her directions but is often on his way to visit his ailing wife in the hospital. At home, Joseph cooks meals while watching his mother's 1950s-era cooking TV shows, connecting with his mother through that way instead of in his actual childhood, when she would make him eat raw liver on TV and be annoyed at him coughing and gagging. Joseph is kind and reserved and polite, but harbors a lot of trauma inside from his childhood and living in the house he grew up in.
As Felicia struggles more to find Johnny, she is approached by a representative of a Christian group and given shelter by them, but they prove to be hypocritical and self-righteous. She gets accosted by men at night on the street, going "Are you working?", assuming she's a sex worker. She ends up staying with Joseph, but he has his own unsettling past with helping vulnerable young women like herself.
I really enjoyed this film. I like how Atom Egoyan's films are often quiet Canadian dramas that are slow and focus on character studies of lonely people, like in The Sweet Hereafter and Exotica, and how the film slowly unveils itself to be a thriller without the Hollywood markings of loud music or jump scares. I like how the film largely takes place during the day, in mundane parts of Birmingham, and the horror more creeps up on the viewer, when Joseph seems like a nice, unassuming person until more of his past is revealed. And that Felicia is a good and innocent person who wants to believe that Johnny cares for her, and it takes her a long time to realize that he has abandoned her.
Both lead actors are fantastic in this film. Bob Hoskins, who was largely known for playing rough, working-class characters in both British and American films, brought a quiet sensitivity to this role, and it was one of the best performances of his career. And Elaine Cassidy, early in her career, brought a sweet shyness and naivete to her role that made her character nearly feel tragic.
I wanted to watch this before it left the Criterion Channel streaming site, and it was a wonderful little gem of a film.
