''Twilight of the Ice Nymphs'' is a 1997

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

directed by

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in ...

. The screenplay was written by George Toles and inspired by the novel '' Pan'' (1894) by

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...

, with an additional literary touchstones being the short story " La Vénus d'Ille" (1837) by

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...

.Beard, William. ''Into the Past: The Cinema of Guy Maddin''. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2010. Print. ''Twilight of the Ice Nymphs'' was Maddin's second feature film in colour and his first shot in 35 mm, on a budget of $1.5 million. As seen in

Noam Gonick Noam Gonick, (born March 20, 1973) is a Canadians, Canadian filmmaker and artist.Ingrid Randoja"Gonzo Gonick" ''Now (newspaper), Now'', May 31, 2021. His films include ''Hey, Happy!'', ''Stryker (2004 film), Stryker'', ''Guy Maddin: Waiting for T ...

's documentary ''Waiting for Twilight'', Maddin was dissatisfied with the filmmaking process due to creative interference from his producers.

Plot

A newly released prisoner, Peter Glahn, returns home to the land of Mandragora, where the sun never sets. Aboard the ship, Glahn has a romantic encounter with Juliana Kossel, then proceeds to the family ostrich farm, which is run by his sister Amelia. Amelia is in love with Dr. Isaac Solti, a manipulative gentleman scientist/mesmerist. Cain Ball, Amelia's hired hand, quarrels with her about her promise to sell him the ostrich farm. Peter heads into the forest to go hunting and meets the pregnant Zephyr, who despite her fisherman husband falls for Peter. Zephyr prays to a stone statue of the goddess Venus that stands in the forest that Peter will be hers, and gives the statue her wedding ring as a gift. Zephyr meets Peter again and Venus appears to have worked her magic, since the two embrace, although Peter notes that he is in love with Juliana and Zephyr notes her marriage. Dr. Solti has likewise been talking to the statue of Venus, which fell over and crushed his leg, causing its amputation. During a picnic, Amelia and Peter meet Solti and Juliana (revealed to be Solti's companion) causing both Glahns to become quite jealous. Solti has mesmerized Juliana and reveals that he orchestrated her affection for Peter as part of his everyday manipulative sadism. Peter assaults Solti and ineffectively attacks his artificial leg. Amelia, meanwhile, has concluded that Cain Ball is trying to kill her and so hammers a giant nail into his skull, sets him on fire, and stuffs his face with live flies, before entering into a semi-catatonic madness herself. Zephyr reveals that she has murdered her husband by leading him into a pit of snakes. Peter and Juliana reignite their romance briefly, before it sours due to Peter's jealousy. He calls upon the spirits of the forest trees to descend on his tormentors, but they only droop a little. Zephyr attempts to take her ring back from the statue of Venus but it falls over to crush her. Cain, nail in head, hallucinates that the cast has piled into a boat, then dies. Solti leaves Mandragora and Juliana follows. She asks Peter for his dog Aesop as a memento, and he agrees but first kills the dog. Peter retreats with Amelia to a wintry cave.

Cast

Nigel Whitmey Nigel Whitmey (born 23 February 1963) is a British-Canadian actor who has appeared in TV series and films. He is also the husband of the actress Abigail Thaw, whom he met while training at RADA. Early life Whitmey was born in Peace River, Alb ...

as Peter Glahn (uncredited) ** Ross McMillan provides the overdubbed voice of Peter Glahn, also uncredited *

Pascale Bussières Pascale Bussières (born June 27, 1968) is a French Canadian actress. Life and work Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Pascale Bussières first attracted attention as a suicidal teenager in Micheline Lanctôt’s 1984 film '' Sonatine''; however ...

as Juliana Kossel *

Shelley Duvall Shelley Alexis Duvall (born July 7, 1949) is an American actress and producer who is known for her portrayals of distinct, often eccentric characters. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Peab ...

as Amelia Glahn *

Frank Gorshin Frank John Gorshin Jr. (April 5, 1933 – May 17, 2005) was an American actor, comedian and impressionist. He made many guest appearances on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''Tonight Starring Steve Allen''. As an actor, he played the Riddler on the ...

as Cain Ball *

Alice Krige Alice Maud Krige (; born 28 June 1954) is a South African actress and producer. Her first feature film role was in ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981) as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon. She played the dual role of Eva Galli/Alma Mobley i ...

as Zephyr Eccles *

R.H. Thomson Robert Holmes Thomson (born 1947), known as R. H. Thomson, is a Canadian television, film, and stage actor. With a career spanning five decades he remains a regular presence on Canadian movie screens and television. He has received numerous ...

as Dr. Isaac Solti * Ross McMillan as Matthew Eccles The film's star is not credited:

plays the lead role of Peter Glahn, but had his name removed after the producers pressured director Maddin to remove Whitmey's voice from the film and replace it with Ross McMillan's. McMillan is not credited as the voice of Peter Glahn, meaning that the lead role is not credited on-screen.

Release

''Twilight of the Ice Nymphs'' was released to home video on a three-film disc titled ''The Guy Maddin Collection'', which also includes Maddin's short film ''

The Heart of the World ''The Heart of the World'' is a short film written and directed by Guy Maddin, produced for the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. Maddin was one of a number of directors (including Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg) commissioned to make four ...

'' and his feature film ''

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

''. ''Twilight of the Ice Nymphs'' is also included on the DVD boxed set ''The Quintessential Guy Maddin: 5 Films from the Heart of Winnipeg,'' released by Zeitgeist Video, alongside ''

'', '' Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary'', '' Careful'', and ''

Cowards Bend the Knee ''Cowards Bend the Knee'' (also known as ''The Blue Hands'') is a 2003 film by Guy Maddin. Maddin directed ''Cowards Bend the Knee'' while in pre-production on ''The Saddest Music in the World'', shooting entirely on Super-8mm film with a budget o ...

''.

Critical reception

''Twilight of the Ice Nymphs'' received mixed reviews, and Maddin himself expressed displeasure while working on the film, and disapproval afterwards. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 67% approval rating based on 9 reviews. Generally, critics considered ''Twilight'' a film for Maddin's core fans, although Lisa Alspector of the ''Chicago Reader'' noted that Maddin's "overwhelming stylization unexpectedly produces an emotional and psychological authenticity."

References

External links

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Brows Held High's take on the 1997 film
{{Guy Maddin 1997 films English-language Canadian films Canadian fantasy adventure films Canadian romantic fantasy films Films based on Norwegian novels Films based on works by Knut Hamsun Films based on works by Prosper Mérimée Films directed by Guy Maddin Films shot in Winnipeg Mariticide in fiction Films based on short fiction Films based on multiple works Films set on islands 1990s English-language films 1990s Canadian films