Wolf Awareness Week - Day 6

 

The Company of Wolves

1984

D: Neil Jordan

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Pros: Some interesting scenery, Interesting symbolism, Great werewolf transformations

Cons: Dull Story, Soapy atmosphere, Bland dialogue and characters, Pacing

     What attracted me to watching this movie was seeing some really inventive and memorable werewolf transformations from it.  As a whole, it turned out to be surprisingly dull and soapy.  Although I found the movie mostly unwatchable and hard to follow, I’ll try to interpret it to the best of my abilities since I don’t think “confusing” is a legitimate criticism for a film.

      In this movie, a modern day girl named Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) is dreaming about a fairy tale universe that’s a twist on “Little Red Ring Hood.”  Her sister is sent to wake up, but to no avail.  It would probably help if she did more than just sneak up to her door and whisper, “Wake up, pest.”  I don’t know anyone who calls their sibling “pest.”  My brother called me “white trash” and “Ugmo,” but never “pest.”  In the dream, this sister is promptly killed by wolves.  How come my dreams never involve wish fulfillment?  I’ve never gotten to be a dragon in them, and yet my family has disowned me multiple times.  My subconscious really sucks at its job.

     As the dream continues, Rosaleen goes to the house of her grandmother (Angela Lansbury), who tells her some tales.  Her first story involves a woman whose husband (Stephen Rea) leaves without explanation.  She remarries and has children, but the first husband returns and, jealous about her new marriage, turns into a werewolf.  The transformation is inventive and quite gory.  Her new husband saves her and the children but hates her for having been married before.  I suppose the meaning of the story is that men can take advantage of women sexually and the women get blamed.     Another tale she tells is that of a young man walking through the forest when he meets the Devil (Terence Stamp) who rides in a Rolls Royce.  I’m going to give this anachronism a pass because it makes perfect sense.  It is the dream of a modern day girl, so of course a vehicle can show up in an odd setting.  Although I would contend that the girl must be a car enthusiast of some kind in order to visualize a vintage model car in her subconscious.  There are other stories within the story, such as a sorceress turning a groom and an entire wedding party into wolves.  I have some trouble interpreting them though. 

     When Rosaleen makes another trip to Granny’s, she meets a handsome huntsman (Micha Bergese) who is heavily suggested to be a werewolf.  They have an extremely long and dull conversation that ends with their betting over who would reach Granny’s house first.  The huntsman does and, when he sees her, he transforms into a wolf in one of the more clever transformations I’ve seen. 

He smacks her head off, which reveals that her insides seem to be a white, chalky substance.

      When Rosaleen arrives, she wounds him with his gun, but he turns into a wolf again, which makes her feel sorry for him.  When Rosaleen’s father (David Warner) and the other villagers come to save the day, they watch the two join the pack as wolves.  The movie ends with the real life Rosaleen waking up and being attacked by a wolf, which breaks through her window like a lupine bed intruder.  The closing quote makes the message clear: the dangerous man of your dreams may seem appealing, but in real life he’ll destroy you.

       The visuals of this movie are a mixed bag.  On one hand, the movie has some interesting scenery for the village and the woods which enhances the movie’s atmosphere.  Lighting is great, too.  On the other hand, the cinematography and camerawork seem clumsy and make the movie feel like a cheap soap opera.  The highlight of the movie is its werewolf transformations, among the most original I’ve seen.  Although the transformations scenes are great, I wish they turned into half-men/half-wolves, and not just wolves.  An odd flaw is that the movie sometimes attempts to pass off Belgian Tervurens as wolves.  I know that wolves can be difficult to work with, though.  I just thought that they would have used breeds that more closely resemble them, but then again the Great Husky Drought of ’83 was before my time. 

       The Company of Wolves has some interesting and sometimes challenging symbolism.  It deals with adult fear that one's daughter might be taken by a man, even if the relationship is consensual.  It also explores the predator-prey relationship between man and woman.  The use of the dream setting is inventive.  Unfortunately, I did not find it very watchable.  I would have preferred the movie have less dialogue in order to create a sense of ambiguity or, failing at that, dialogue that was more engaging.  Instead, the movie compromises its atmosphere with excessive and dry exposition.  The characters are flat, and their conversations drag on tediously.  This, of course, is my subjective opinion.  I'm sure some people may like it, and that's fine.  My distaste for it was somewhat subjective.  I admit this wasn't an ideal movie for me to critique, but I felt I wanted to do it for this Wolf Week gimmick.