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Fantasia 2024: Adrianne and the Castle Review
Image Credit: Fantasia IFF
Loading...Directed by: Shannon Walsh
Written by: Laurel Sprengelmeyer & Shannon Walsh
Starring:
Alan St-George
Shannon Walsh
Nathan McDonald
Slee
Running Time: 86 minutes
Not Rated
Here in 2024, I think we’d all like to escape from reality at least for a bit. Alan St-George could give us a masterclass on doing so. Alan and his wife Adrianne lived their lives in their own world; Adrianne professed the belief that “Reality is for those that lack imagination.” Their home was Havencrest Castle, a physical ode to living the fantasy filled with art dedicated to their love.
When Adrianne passed away in 2006, Alan was destroyed. But even in his devastation, he found himself deriving purpose from continuing to fill their home with pieces of their love. Shannon Walsh’s documentary Adrianne and the Castle serves as a monument to that love. The film, which screened at Fantasia Fest on Saturday, offers an earnest, sentimental and bittersweet portrait of these two unique individuals and how with some people, love truly never dies.
In Adrianne and the Castle, we learn how Alan and Adrianne met when Alan was on a bus in the 1970s and saw his wife-to-be out the window, a case of love at first sight. The story is told from Alan’s perspective of course and re-enacted by a pair of actors brought on to play the two at key moments of their life together. That moment is representative of the whole film, adding a layer of artifice to this real couple but in a way that discovers their authenticity.
Many of the hard details of Alan and Adrianne’s life are left out, or only hinted at. We learn that they were both cut off by their families, but we don’t know why. Any part of the world outside of their relationship and the house that became their castle is given only the vaguest mention. Alan – and by extension, Walsh – have little time for dwelling on that, especially when there’s so much to say about Adrianne and what a magical creature she was.
In that way, the film practically invites disbelief. It’s easy to look at the movie and think, “These are weirdos, there has to be something more going on with them.” And perhaps there is. It’s hard not to wonder if Alan is romanticizing some of his tales. But the film pierces right through that cynicism with home movies and the sheer earnestness by which Alan speaks.
The couple began renovating the house after they bought it in the 1970s. In the years that followed, they reinvented home on the inside and out. Most of the film takes place within those walls, which feels entirely like another world. Alan dedicated his life to sculptures, paintings, installations and more to his muse, and continues to do so to this day. It’s all in devotion to her; he notes that early on she hated the house and they agreed that she could do anything she wanted to it. The result, as shot by Walsh, is both breathtaking not only in its artistry, but its obsession.
But it’s just Alan now, and that tragic fact gives the film its true purpose. In some ways it feels like Walsh is creating this film as therapy for her subject, and even if it were just that this would be a noble effort. But Adrianne and the Castle also documents what happens when reality encroaches on the fantasy.
Adrianne’s passing left Alan adrift and lost; at one point he admits, “Sometimes it feels like I’m a ghost in the house, not Adrianne.” He talks about how going out into the real world was a challenge for him and how he was amazed by his first visit to a Walmart where you could buy so many things all in one place. Walsh’s film sees Alan grapple with what it means to come out of the fantasy when it ends, discovering the reality and trying to reconcile the two.
In the end, it’s a tricky film to come to terms with. For Alan’s part, is he over his grief or has he just buried himself deeper in his fantasy as a way to avoid it? There’s an argument that could be made for that, and Alan himself says that he worries, if he ever finishes all of his work, about what would come after. But Walsh’s film leaves the question lingering: does it matter if this is what he needs?
In some ways, it can be hard to relate to Alan and Adrianne’s story. After all, most of us aren’t founders of internationally successful mascot companies and can’t decide that we, as they could, “like the fantasy life better.” But in addition to serving as a testament to these two wonderfully eccentric and creative dreamers and their love, Adrianne and the Castle suggests that maybe it wouldn’t be so awful for us if we decided to live in the fantasy a bit more than we do.
The Fantasia International Film Festival takes place in Montreal from July 18th through August 4th.
