Photographing Fairies (1997)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

I absolutely love this film and am so happy to own the DVD of it.What a shame that this film was released so close on the heels of the other fairy film and thus was overlooked at the box office! Even today it holds up so well and both surprises and delights the viewer.We are transported into a thoroughly magical yet unpredictable realm to explore what might be possible or merely hoped for in the next world - a place "as real as Clacton on Sea" or a "state of mind" only. The pain, sorrow, hope, and fulfillment of the human journey are artistically offered to the viewer in a way that draws each human in.Every piece of the production complements the others. The cast is perfect - especially Toby Stephens in his portrayal of a vulnerable yet truly determined seeker of the truth. Some reviewers have remarked on the slow pace, but I love the time allotted for each event or revelation in the story. When I am given the time to feel what the character feels as the story is developing, I relish each twist and turn that much more! Oh, how I wish this could be re-released in theatres! This film deserves much greater recognition that it originally received. If you can only view or rent this film, do so. But if you are able to find a DVD to purchase - do so with utmost haste. You will not regret it! I, myself, have also just ordered the original book by Steve Szilagyi on which the script if based.

This is review #39 and the average vote is near "9". I'm neither an attention seeker nor depressed but PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES is not a great film. There are a lot of "ways" in which P-F may have entertained, been successful, etc., but to risk adopting a cliché or canned response, P-F doesn't click on any level. It fails to serve as a chronicle or historical note to the actual history of events (as several reviewers pointed out, the British fairy "craze" was an actual late 19th century phenomona) . Though I cannot over-fault P-F for not delving into events as did FAIRY TALE (It has the right to try and stand on its own) there's a scene where we pass several rooms wherein everyone's got a a crystal ball, is doing a seance, i.e., as if to say all of England is presently chasing fairies! Neither did I find P-F to be a particularly great love story, exploration of the Afterlife, or conflict of wills. We're to be convinced of the existence of fairies on very little support, as well as introduction of a "flower drug" as nothing more than a useful plot devise. Our hero's lost love angst is, arguably, to be taken for granted and, should you "buy" such, the role of his new sweetheart-in-waiting becomes a loose end. With all the hub-bub about "afterlife" and life-as-dream, the resolution we appear to be given is nothing of the sort but rather a "time travel" package; i.e., back to real life again instead of into another world. Abjectly wasted and totally without benefit to P-F is Ben Kingsley's lost-his-way preacher. Other than dying to serve the film's plot ending, I can easily envision cutting the preacher's entire role without affect to the rest of the story. The movie is beautifully filmed and the props are great, as is the acting (NOTE: supporting cast is particularly noteworthy). In the end though, PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES either is trying to do too much or, alternately, is not sure what it wants to do!

I was up late one night and this was playing on the Sci-fi channel. I happen to have a fascination with fairies so I figured this would be an interesting film. Indeed I was right The first film I saw pertaining to the story of two young girls photographing fairies was FairyTale: A True Story which was cute but I constantly found myself yawning and wondering when it would end. Photographing Fairies is also about the two girls capturing a fairy in a photograph, but instead of focusing on them the story really revolves around Charles Castle. Toby Stephens (whom most of us know from Die Another Day) plays Castle, a tormented photographer that refuses to do weddings because of a loss he suffered after only one day of being married. He sets out to find the truth, if fairies really do exist, and along the way he ends up discovering a world so precious and sacred that he'd do anything to keep it safe from harm. 8/10

This film was inspired by the famous "Cottingley Fairy" photographs, where, in 1917, two girls produced pictures which they claimed showed fairies at the bottom of their garden. In this film, a cynical photographer, still grieving over the death of his wife, becomes obsessed by some photographs which he believes show genuine fairies.The films well made, but it is very slow-moving. The atmosphere is very somber, in fact the whole thing is surprisingly bleak.This had the misfortune to be released around the same time as "Fairy Tale: A True Story", which was also based on the Cottingley photographs, and was far more successful. .