The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

This is review #39 and the average vote is near "9". I'm neither an attention seeker nor depressed but PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES is not a great film. There are a lot of "ways" in which P-F may have entertained, been successful, etc., but to risk adopting a cliché or canned response, P-F doesn't click on any level. It fails to serve as a chronicle or historical note to the actual history of events (as several reviewers pointed out, the British fairy "craze" was an actual late 19th century phenomona) . Though I cannot over-fault P-F for not delving into events as did FAIRY TALE (It has the right to try and stand on its own) there's a scene where we pass several rooms wherein everyone's got a a crystal ball, is doing a seance, i.e., as if to say all of England is presently chasing fairies! Neither did I find P-F to be a particularly great love story, exploration of the Afterlife, or conflict of wills. We're to be convinced of the existence of fairies on very little support, as well as introduction of a "flower drug" as nothing more than a useful plot devise. Our hero's lost love angst is, arguably, to be taken for granted and, should you "buy" such, the role of his new sweetheart-in-waiting becomes a loose end. With all the hub-bub about "afterlife" and life-as-dream, the resolution we appear to be given is nothing of the sort but rather a "time travel" package; i.e., back to real life again instead of into another world. Abjectly wasted and totally without benefit to P-F is Ben Kingsley's lost-his-way preacher. Other than dying to serve the film's plot ending, I can easily envision cutting the preacher's entire role without affect to the rest of the story. The movie is beautifully filmed and the props are great, as is the acting (NOTE: supporting cast is particularly noteworthy). In the end though, PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES either is trying to do too much or, alternately, is not sure what it wants to do!

A touching movie obviously inspired by the real events that took place in the early 1920s in England. Two girl cousins claimed to have seen fairies and took photographs with them. The fairies came to be known as the Cottingley Fairies. Their claims generated a lot of interest and followership including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who believed their stories after subjecting the photographs to authentication tests.It was later in the 80s that the cousins admitted the photos were fake after advanced technology in computer and photography showed discrepancies in the pictures.However, this film is still a gem

If you have cable and the SciFi Channel, you may have had thepleasure of catching this little gem. I kept seeing it in parts andeven in the little snippets, it drew me in and had such a hauntingquality. It was on the other night and I just sat and watched it all theway through and despite the fact that I'd seen some scenesbefore, it still held such a wonderful presence. It's hard to reallydescribe the movie -- part love story, part fantasy, with a little bit ofthe Big Question over exactly what the afterlife is. Thecinematography is absolutely picturesque, almost like watching aMerchant Ivory production, but with a bit of fairy magic thrown in.Ben Kingsley is an interesting addition to the cast. I wish therewas more characterization done on all the main roles. You get asense of where everyone comes from in terms of motivation, butmore background would have made for a richer film. The pace issometimes inconsistent, moving quickly in the beginning, thenslowing, then speeding up again. But the film's dry English witmakes for enjoyable moments of irreverence. It's still just anoverall beautiful film. Very bittersweet and heartbreaking inmoments. The end is shot with such care and emotion. Asfantastic as the premise is, the heart of the movie is somethingeveryone can understand -- the loss of a loved one and the chanceto rekindle a spirit burdened with sorrow. A funny bit of irony -- theactor who played Watson in the BBC Sherlock Holmes series is inthis movie and he plays (har har har) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Far better than I expected and wrongfully neglected. A dark and profound examination of agnosticism and faith that is quite remarkable, with unexpected twists and shocks. I very much recommend this film, particularly the performance by Toby Stephens who is, in a word, amazing.