Ondine is a 2009 Irish romantic drama film written and directed by Neil Jordan and starring Colin Farrell and Alicja Bachleda.
The film was shot on location in Castletownbere, and it touches upon the possible existence of the mythological selkie bringing hope and love to humanity.
[3] Syracuse, uncomfortably called "Circus" by some, is trawling on his boat and finds a scantily clad young woman caught in his net.
When Syracuse picks up Annie from her school, he continues the fisherman story by explaining how the woman sings to the fish for him to catch, a song in a language he has never heard before.
Syracuse stammers that his lobsters hear her sing, which makes Annie curious as to whose story this is, and she secretly follows him to the caravan.
Ondine is shown alone, tidying up the caravan, then tries her new clothing as if the experience was a first, especially when she stretches leggings over one splayed hand so it looks webbed.
The kids call Annie a "spaz" and abandon her to push it back home, where she finds Alex drinking beer.
As Alex dries out the batteries, Annie asks again about selkies and he tells her they come from his homeland, Outer Hebrides.
She begins singing again as he is pulling up his net, and finds it filled with a bountiful catch of salmon, that doesn't come from trawling.
Syracuse takes her shopping for clothes and run into Annie, who helps her with outfits, as townfolk gawk through the store window eyeing a very pretty Ondine.
Annie wants Ondine to stay for seven years, unless the selkie husband claims her back, and shares this with her dad as they all boat into town.
Back in the confessional, Syracuse tells the priest he sinned with Ondine the night before, and fears the good luck she brings, since he lost hope long ago.
Ondine and Syracuse follow Annie to the hospital, and learn she is getting an immediate kidney transplant from Alex, who opted to be a donor.
Intoxicated, Syracuse maroons Ondine at Roancarrig Lighthouse island because he thinks she will haunt him forever, as humans and selkies don't belong together.
As Annie watches TV with Sigur Rós performing, Syracuse recognizes they are the songs of Ondine, and goes back to find her on Seal Rock to demand the truth.
Annie is seen making a confession to the priest who is to wed Syracuse and Ondine, completing the fairytale how selkie women often find unexpected happiness with a landsman.
"Jordan uses the push and pull between real life and legend to explore ideas of social ills, retribution, justice, family bonds and miracles in an age in which it seems there are none.
Musetto of the New York Post found the best performance that of Alison Barry as Annie, but also took exception to the shift from fantasy to reality at the end.
The site's consensus reads, "Flawed but charming, Ondine reaffirms writer-director Neil Jordan's gift for myth, magic, and wonder.