Bloom (2003/I)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Sean Walsh

Writer:

James Joyce (novel)

Release Date:

16 April 2004 (Ireland)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The enthralling story of June 16th, 1904.

Plot:

Adapted from James Joyce's Ulysses, Bloom is the enthralling story of June 16th, 1904 and a gateway into the consiousness of its three main characters: Stephen Dedalus, Molly Bloom and the extraordinary Leopold Bloom.

Plot Keywords:

Dead Mother | Funeral | Dream | Jew | Cuckold

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Stephen Rea	...	Leopold Bloom
Angeline Ball	...	Molly Bloom
Hugh O'Conor	...	Stephen Dedalus
Neilí Conroy	...	Driscoll
Eoin McCarthy	...	Blazes Boylan
Alvaro Lucchesi	...	Buck Mulligan
Maria Hayden	...	May Dedalus
Aideen McDonald	...	Veiled girl
Pat McGrath	...	Butcher
Mark Huberman	...	Haines
Kenneth McDonnell	...	Armstrong
Hugh MacDonagh	...	Schoolboy
Andrew McGibney	...	Colm / Newsboy
Dan Colley	...	Bannon
Des Braiden	...	Deasy

Also Known As:

Ulysses (Ireland: English title) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content including dialogue.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:16 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:MA | Ireland:18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Dalkey Island, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

Odyssey Pictures

Trivia:

Director Sean Walsh's name appears as the owner of one of the horses in the paper in one scene.

Quotes:

Stephen Dedalus: History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake

Movie Connections:

Version of Ulysses (1967)

Closer to the Inner Joyce

It's tempting to describe this film by listing all the things it is not. The earlier black and white version, by Joseph Strick in the Summer of Love 1967, starring Milo O'Shea, was too steamy for Ireland and Glasgow, where it was banned, but it was quite sedate and circumspect even by the mores of the time. There has been an excellent serial on BBC Radio, where good use was made of echo/reverb and stereo in depicting the various voices of guilt, regret, lust, fantasy, stream-of-consciousness. In a sense, Michael Winterbottom got closer to the show-off spirit of Joyce in 'Cock and Bull Story', but this production is its own movie. It certainly gets back to the 'cut and paste' feel of the book, and looks every bit as lubricious and smelly as it aught to. Dublin looks dark and damp as it is on the written page, albeit with a touch of filmier romance. The scenes of pure mad fantasy, on the other hand, are either under hardedged sit-com lighting or bathed in a 'Ridley Scott' fog. Most of the dialogue is slightly stagey - or it has the kind of distanced feel associated with post-synching, but only once does this mannerism jarr, when Dedalus (Hugh O'Connor) is spouting his opinions on life and art; so 'rehearsed' and declamatory that it could almost be seen as a deliberate nod to Joyce's category-jumping. Stephen Rea has just the kind of hang-dog look of regret, guilt and ineptitude you can imagine in Leopold Bloom; Angelina Ball as Molly is permanently redolent of warm bed. A neat trick with the structure was to begin with Molly's soliloquy,but otherwise, the overall framework follows the book; if we had been deprived of That Ending, who knows, riots could have broken out. As it is, the acceptance of human folly and the celebration of cerebral grandiosity in vile bodies forms a happy cloud round the exit. One to see again. CLIFF HANLEY