Houdini’s Death Defying Acts (2007)

Directed by: Gillian Armstrong | 97 minutes | drama, thriller, romance | Actors: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall, Saoirse Ronan, Malcolm Shields, Leni Harper, Ralph Riach

Edinburgh, early 20th century. As a single mom, Mary McGarvie has her own ways of staying alive. Her daughter Benji has to pick pockets in the street to track down people who mourn a loved one. Then Mary conducts archival research for the details needed for her spectacular revelations in the theater. In this way she gives the public the impression that she can talk to the dead and the public thinks it is wonderful.

Then the world famous Harry Houdini comes to Edinburgh. During his tour of Europe, he mercilessly exposed numerous scammers who claimed to be able to talk to his mother on the other side. The prize for revealing her last words has not yet been collected by anyone. Mary smells her chance. She and Benji go about their usual way, trying various ways to uncover Houdini’s secrets. But Houdini, an illusion genius, knows all the tricks of the trade and immediately knows how Mary and Benji’s act works. However, he is also a showman pur sang. Under the watchful eye of the assembled press, he puts the paper containing his mother’s last words in a hermetically sealed safe. And he calls in a selection of scientists for the conversation Mary will have with his deceased mother. But what Houdini and Mary didn’t count on is that the aloof Houdini and Mary, with her deep distrust of men, begin to feel more for each other than the respect of one con man for the arts of the other.

This isn’t a biopic about the great Harry Houdini, but a beautifully acted romantic drama about two people who carefully emerge from behind their own bulwarks to love each other. Guy Pearce plays with appropriate toughness the man who hardened through life has come to prosperity and will no longer be fooled by anyone unless he chooses to do so himself. You immediately believe that he has experienced great poverty in the past and that he has learned to defend himself against the adversities in life. And that his mother’s death is still an open wound, but that he cannot and will not admit it to anyone.

The atmosphere of spiritualism, psychic abilities and séances intersected with Houdini’s revulsion at the scams that this entails is well-hit. The film is not sweet, because of the sense of reality of the man who hits back mercilessly when he is cheated. But the atmosphere is dreamy, unreal and the subtle acting fits in nicely with this. That pleasantly dreamy atmosphere is enhanced by the fact that you never know exactly what is true or not, that secrets are sometimes revealed or not and when they are revealed, you don’t know what to make of it. Everything is beautifully kept in style. A beautiful film about two people marked by life who unexpectedly find a soul mate in each other and for the other are willing to let go of their mechanisms to survive in the hard life.