Selkies are ethereal creatures who take the form of seals in the ocean, but then transform into supernaturally beautiful humans while on land: they’ve inspired tales for centuries. Their stories tend to be romantic tragedies: females are trapped on land and slowly waste away when men hide their sealskins; fishermen wake to find their beloved wives gone back to the sea and selkie children are spirited away to an aquatic life.
Fiona goes to live with her grandparents on the western coast of Ireland, and soon learns that one of her ancestors may have had a tryst with a selkie. As if that weren’t magical enough, at least a few members of her community think that her baby brother was spirited away by the creatures.
Tells us of a different side of the selkie myth. Our narrator is the daughter of a selkie who has to stay behind and take care of her father, while also dealing with the emotional fallout of not only losing her mother, but of being tied so tightly to the world of myth.
Neil Jordan gives us a semi-magical Selkie story in Ondine. Colin Farrell is a recovering alcoholic fisherman, his daughter is slowly dying of kidney failure and has to use a wheelchair, and her mom, Farrell’s ex, is an active alcoholic who keeps messing up their lives.
One day Farrell pulls a half-drowned woman up in his fishing nets, and takes her home. Soon he notices that when she sings he catches more fish, and other strange things. Obviously, things get complicated, but Ondine is an often lovely modern fairy tale.
Two children, Ben and Saoirse, live in a lighthouse with their father, Conor. The loss of their mother has shattered the family, and Conor remains inconsolable. Ben is often left to care for Saoirse, who hasn’t spoken even though she’s six years old. When Saoirse discovers a shell flute that used to belong to their mother, the spellbinding music she creates becomes both a means of communication and the key to a magical secret locked deep in their mother’s past.
This sweet family movie changes the usual story up by transplanting the Celtic legend to Australia! Jamie has a great life: a decent job, a place on the footy team, and best of all, he spends his nights playing lead guitar in a band. Everything’s going swell until his whole family has to move to a remote island. Once they’re on the island, because he begins to learn the truth about himself. The funny webbing between his fingers? The uncanny pull of the sea? Could he be a selkie?
The Selkie’s Lover
Set in the Scottish Highlands, The Selkie’s Lover is another update on the story. After a selkie is trapped on land in her human form, she finds herself falling for a human fisherman. Can she find a way to stay with him? Or does her heart belong to the sea?
