''Death Defying Acts'' is a 2007 supernatural romance film, directed by Gillian Armstrong, and starring

Guy Pearce Guy Edward Pearce (born 5 October 1967) is an Australian actor. Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire in England, and raised in Geelong, Victoria in Australia, he started his career portraying Mike Young in the Australian television series ''Neighbours ...

and

Catherine Zeta-Jones Catherine Zeta-Jones (; born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Known for her versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed C ...

. It concerns an episode in the life of Hungarian- American escapologist Harry Houdini at the height of his career in the 1920s. It was screened in a special presentation at the

2007 Toronto International Film Festival The 2007 Toronto International Film Festival was a 32nd annual film festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It ran from September 6, 2007 to September 15, 2007. The lineup consisted of 349 films from 55 countries, selected from 4156 submissio ...

Plot

In 1926, 13 years after his mother's death,

illusionist Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

Harry Houdini (

) has begun debunking mystics,

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws ...

s and others who claim to have

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

powers. He offers $10,000 to anyone who can quote his mother's dying words to him. Impoverished and uneducated

Scot The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...

tish

con artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have ...

Mary McGarvie (

) and her daughter, Benji (

Saoirse Ronan Saoirse Una Ronan ( , ; born 12 April 1994) is an American-born Irish actress. Primarily known for her work in period dramas since adolescence, she has received various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations fo ...

), set their sights on Houdini's reward when he visits

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

on tour. Mary has a music hall psychic act that pulls in the public: Benji surreptitiously gathers information on members of the audience, which Mary uses to fake contact with their deceased loved ones. Mary and Benji charm Houdini, spending time with him out of the public eye. However, Benji starts feeling isolated as her mother and the magician begin a relationship. She also has distressing dreams about being trapped in an underwater tank, and an angel-like figure with red hair. While initially suspicious and hostile, Houdini's protective manager, Mr. Sugarman (

Timothy Spall Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series '' Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''. Spall performed in '' ...

), eventually tells Mary and Benji the truth: Houdini, busy doing a show, was unable to visit his mother on her deathbed, and is racked with guilt. Mary, wearing Houdini's mother's wedding dress, performs the heavily-publicized act surrounded by a crowd of reporters. When she has a crisis of conscience and attempts to leave, Benji begins seizing on the ground. She utters the words of the

Kaddish Kaddish or Qaddish or Qadish ( arc, קדיש "holy") is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy, different version ...

, addresses Houdini as "Ehrich" (his real given name), and asks (in a mix of German and German-accented English) where he is. Houdini says, "I'm here, Mama," and begins crying next to Benji. (Whether her fit is genuine or staged is not specified.) When a note written to confirm the veracity of the experiment is shown to be blank, Houdini reveals to the press the "eternal shame" he feels because he wasn't able to reach his mother before she died. Thus, he was unable to comfort her in her moment of death, and doesn't know her final words. The McGarvies are awarded the $10,000. Mary becomes disgruntled, feeling Houdini does not love her as she believed. However, he visits the small cottage Mary and Benji share and confirms his feelings for her. They make love and spend the night together before Houdini leaves for a performance in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. Following Houdini's arrival in Canada, a "Red-Haired Prankster" abruptly punches him in the stomach, fatally rupturing his appendix. After calling for a doctor, Sugarman privately reveals that he told Mary and Benji the truth about Houdini's mother, hoping that the staged seance would provide him with closure; Houdini replies, "I know." At a movie theater in Scotland, Benji weeps while viewing

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...

footage about Houdini's death, in which he faces the camera and appears to bid goodbye. In a voiceover, Benji states that, "Houdini changed our lives. And for a wee short while, we taught him how to love."

Cast

as Harry Houdini *

as Mary McGarvie *

as Sugarman *

as Benji McGarvie * Malcolm Shields as Leith Romeo * Leni Harper as Leith Romeo's wife *

Ralph Riach Ralph McKenzie Riach (26 January 1936 – 20 March 2022) was a Scottish actor from Elgin, Moray. Early years Riach was born on 26 January 1937 in Elgin, Scotland. He He was educated at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, and he wor ...

as Mr. Robertson

Production

The film was shot on location in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

, and at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, produced by

Myriad Pictures Myriad Pictures is an independent entertainment company in Santa Monica, California founded in 1999 and specializing in production, financing and worldwide distribution of feature films and television programming. History President and CEO Kir ...

and is being distributed by

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America pri ...

. Guy Pearce spent six weeks learning Houdini's tricks from magician

Ross Skiffington Ross Skiffington is a New Zealand-born Australian magician, actor, and theatre director, who has received two lifetime achievement awards for his contributions to magic. Biography Skiffington trained as an actor, graduating with a Diploma in ...

. Magic consultant for the film was English magician Scott Penrose.

Box office

''Death Defying Acts'' earned $2,839,345 at the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

box office, $800,505 in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, $713,741 in Australia and $608,455 in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Globally, the film took $6,415,141. It was on a very limited release in larger markets such as the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, resulting in low box-office takings there.

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews, with a 42% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 38 reviews, with an average score of 4.98/10.

Awards and nominations

* The APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards of 2009 were issued on 2 November, by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and

Australian Guild of Screen Composers The Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) is a not for profit organisation, which was established in 1981, "to represent the interests of Australian screen composers by developing and promoting employment opportunities, undertaking educationa ...

(AGSC) at the

City Recital Hall City Recital Hall in Sydney, Australia, is a purpose-built concert venue with the capacity for an audience of 1,238 people seated over three tiers of sloped seating. It is situated in the city centre in Angel Place, just off Martin Place. City ...

, Sydney. * 2009 APRA Best Soundtrack Album win for ''Death Defying Acts'' by Cezary Skubiszewski.

References

External links

*
''Death Defying Acts''
at

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 ...

* {{Gillian Armstrong 2007 films 2000s historical films British historical films BBC Film films Films directed by Gillian Armstrong Films set in 1926 Films about magic and magicians Films shot in Edinburgh Australian thriller films Harry Houdini Cultural depictions of Harry Houdini Films scored by Cezary Skubiszewski Films set in Edinburgh 2000s English-language films 2000s British films