Bubbles rather than boils
Perhaps
you’d call this a gothic romance with a touch of swindling.
It certainly has sumptuous set pieces and is well costumed with
a great sense of period. In fact, in any terms, you’d have
to say Gillian Armstrong’s Death Defying Acts looks
good on the screen. It's the fictional story of the great escapologist
Harry Houdini and his curious relationship with a fraudulent Scottish
clairvoyant.
Everything starts well enough with Houdini (Guy
Pearce) doing an escape act in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour
Bridge, then under construction; setting the tense atmosphere
and period quickly and well. The location shifts to Edinburgh,
where Houdini is given a hero’s welcome. Here also we meet
Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) a lovely but dodgy performer
in a fake supernatural act with her waif-like daughter Benji (Saoirse
Ronan). It’s suggested that Benji does have some real clairvoyant
powers.
But Mary and Benji live on the smell of an oily
rag in a shack at the local cemetery. They’re real con artists
and prick up their ears when they hear Houdini is offering a reward
of $10,000 to any medium who can repeat the last words of his
dying mother. Houdini’s extremely interested in spiritualism
and inordinately fond of his late mother. 
The
prize was also a ploy to weed out hoax seances and dud psychics,
he was a true believer in the after-life and very happy to expose
charlatans. Mary, eager to take on the challenge, becomes extremely
close to Houdini who’s infatuated with the attractive clairvoyant.
However his manager Sugarman (Timothy Spall) is suspicious of
the pair and sets out to foil their plans. Things don’t
go quite as anyone intended.
Unfortunately despite the fine settings and excellent
photography, the film is light on dramatic power. Guy Pearce (The
Proposition) rather lacks lustre as Houdini, failing to capture
the mystique and charisma of the fabulous showman. His chemistry
with his beautiful co-star is restrained so the romantic side
of things bubble along rather than boil. Catherine Zeta-Jones
(The Legend of Zorro) while looking as luscious as a
cosmetic advert doesn’t plumb the depths of the Mary character.
It’s really left to remarkable young Saoirse Ronan (Atonement)
playing the eccentric daughter and reliable Timothy Spall (Sweeney
Todd) the shrewd manager to inject life into the story. Which
to a degree they do, though not enough to set you on fire.
It really ends up being a costume picture and very
little else. The story could have worked well set in America where
one rather expects slick con artists and weird seances. Perhaps
Edinburgh was selected for its gothic appeal, the night scenes
with the narrow arches and spires certainly have that quality.
Then you see the Scottish Lottery provided part funding for the
picture which no doubt also influenced the choice. The down side
is Zeta-Jones and Ronan wade through dubious Scottish brogues,
though Guy Pearce does his best with something resembling an American
accent.
Another pity is Houdini’s spectacular escape
acts are so limited, while the supernatural element which might
have been developed further is left hanging like wet washing.
So in the end the movie fails to satisfy on most levels. It just
doesn’t manage the atmosphere or tension of the recent The
Prestige or The Illusionist. You could say it lacks
the magic touch. Despite the high profile cast, the usually skillful
director Gillian Armstrong (Charlotte Gray, Oscar
and Lucinda) hasn’t come up with her best effort.
John Bale
