Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home Culture

Cynicism ruins the magic

byCNS
29 August 2014
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA

Dealing in magic: Emma Stone and Colin Firth star in a scene from the movie Magic in the Moonlight. Photo: CNS

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT: Starring Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Eileen Atkins, Jacki Weaver, Marcia Gay Harden, Hamish Linklater. Directed by Woody Allen. 97 minutes. Rated PG (Mild themes)

By Joseph McAleer

WITHIN the enchanting French Riviera setting of Magic in the Moonlight, an age-old debate simmers between faith and reason, between a strictly rationalist standpoint and openness to divine providence.

Writer-director Woody Allen has always preferred nihilism to optimism, and this, his 44th film, does not vary in outlook.

It’s a pity, as his deeply cynical view toward matters spiritual sours what is otherwise a lovely travelogue with entertaining, if not particularly amusing, performances.

It’s the Roaring Twenties in Berlin, and Stanley (Colin Firth) is a master illusionist.

Posing as Wei Ling Soo, a Chinese magician, he wows audiences by sawing women in half and making a live elephant disappear.

Dealing in magic: Emma Stone and Colin Firth star in a scene from the movie Magic in the Moonlight. Photo: CNS
Dealing in magic: Emma Stone and Colin Firth star in a scene from the movie Magic in the Moonlight. Photo: CNS

Behind the scenes, Stanley is a nasty misanthrope, described by his friend and fellow conjurer, Howard (Simon McBurney), as “a genius with all the charm of a typhus epidemic”.

Stanley has a sideline: debunker of spiritualists, charlatans who claim to communicate with the dead, defrauding innocent people in the process.

To Stanley, the world is only understood through science and logic.

Related Stories

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

Anything to do with God, faith or the afterlife is, he claims, “all phony, from the seance table to the Vatican and beyond”.

It’s no wonder he channels the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in stating, “If we are to get through life, we must delude ourselves”.

That’s ironic, for a man who makes his living tricking audiences into believing anything is possible.

Howard persuades Stanley to accompany him to the south of France, where Grace (Jacki Weaver), a rich American widow, has become enchanted by her fellow countryman, comely clairvoyant Sophie (Emma Stone).

Arms flailing and shivering from “mental vibrations”, the wide-eyed Sophie is a wonder to behold.

After she “contacts” Grace’s dead husband, Grace is ready to hand over the family fortune, and her smitten son, Brice (Hamish Linklater), proposes marriage.

This is all too much for Brice’s sister Caroline (Erica Leerhsen) and her psychiatrist husband George (Jeremy Shamos).

They bring in Howard and Stanley to expose Sophie as a trickster and fraud.

Predictably, Stanley’s eyes are opened and his hard heart is melted by Sophie’s charms and her rather convincing supernatural powers which, she insists, give hope to those who despair.

Mystified and lovesick, Stanley finds himself questioning his own narrow worldview, especially on matters of faith.

With his dearly loved Aunt Vanessa (Eileen Atkins) lying gravely ill in the hospital, Stanley turns to God – that “benevolent father figure out there” – for help.

“I don’t have all the answers,” he prays. “It is possible that we are here by design, and you could be real.”

It’s a startling turnaround for an atheist. But as this is a Woody Allen film, there are twists in store.

Suffice it to say that believing moviegoers will soon realise they’ve been led down an attractive but dead-end garden path.

The film contains a cynical view of faith and religion, brief sexual humour and mature references. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Joseph McAleer is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Celebrating the gift of diversity

Next Post

Provocative study of contentious topic

CNS

Related Posts

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies
QLD

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

20 May 2022
Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition
QLD

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning
QLD

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Next Post

Provocative study of contentious topic

‘Five for five’, or count your blessings

Disciplined pursuit of less

Popular News

  • Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport

    Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Queensland election: The pro-life political parties committed to abortion law reforms

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies
QLD

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

by Joe Higgins
20 May 2022
0

BRISBANE grandmother Gwendoline Grant has clocked up 15,000 hours cuddling and caring for sick and premature babies...

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Catholic relationship advisers offer five tips to look after your mental health

Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

19 May 2022
Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

19 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping