Filmic Friday 231: Ladyhawke

Once upon a time there was an actor named Rutger Hauer. He was brilliant and starred in many movies, bringing far more to even the silliest roles (Blind Fury, for instance) than they could ever have called for. All legends die eventually, however, and this month we lost this brilliant star. In honor of his life, I'd like to take a moment to talk about one of his most underrated roles in a very underrated fantasy film from the 1980s. I'd like to talk about Ladyhawke.

Though I confess, I do not own a copy of the BluRay and was unaware there was one!

One time, my father was working late at his job and it was New Year's Eve. I don't remember exactly if this was the Y2K thing (he works IT), but regardless, we were holed up in an unused conference room, myself and my siblings, and this movie was in the pile of DVDs we were using on the projector my dad had set up for us. Let me tell you, it was quite the shock going from Fantasia 2000 to Ladyhawke.

Our story begins with Matthew Broderick's character, Philippe "Mouse" Gaston, escaping from an inescapable dungeon in the walled city of Aquila, which I'm pretty sure is supposed to be in France, but even back then I knew my French countryside from my Italian countryside, and you know in an instant that this is Italy, not France. Regardless, Mouse digs and swims his way to freedom, chatting to God the whole time like a crazy man. Eventually, he steals a guard's unattended purse and some clothes from some peasants, and then he ends up at a tavern.

So what does a man who has just escaped hanging do?

He announces what he's just done for everyone to hear and invites them to toast him. Of course half of the patrons are guards from the city he just escaped and there's a fantastic fight scene while he tries to escape his fate. Just as all seems lost, however, a mysterious man steps in and fends off the soldiers with blade and crossbow alike!

It's Rutger Hauer!!!

Hauer is playing a brooding knight-errant called Navarre who travels with a hawk named Isabeau and a huge steed named Goliath. He presses Mouse into service, demanding that he guide them into Aquila.

Mouse is quite willing. After some strong-arming...

Eventually, however, it becomes clear that Mouse has gotten entangled in something both magical and frightening. Isabeau the hawk is not merely a bird, but a transformed woman - Isabeau of Anjou (Michelle Pfeiffer) - who was beloved by Navarre. The two made vows to a priest but were betrayed to the Bishop of Aquila, who had developed a very unhealthy fixation on Isabeau. He cursed the two to be always together, yet always apart. During the day, Isabeau is the eponymous Ladyhawke, but at night, Navarre becomes an enormous black wolf. Needless to say, there's a lot of playing around with this, including some downright Cyrano de Bergerac "let me speak for you" stuff with poor Mouse playing in-between.

Finally, during one of the many brushes with the Bishop's Guards on their way to Aquila, Isabeau is shot with a crossbow bolt and Mouse is forced to leave behind an injured Navarre and take the wounded bird to a crumbling castle where we meet Imperius, the monk who betrayed the lovers.

I love this character.

Imperius, drunk as he usually is, does his best to heal Isabeau and explain what's happening to Mouse. Then he breaks the big news: there's a way to break the curse! See, all they have to do is get both Isabeau and Navarre to confront the Bishop in their human forms. Problem: they're never human at the same time but for a split second at dawn and dusk, and that's not going to work. Thus, they need to do it at a very specific time: when there is day without night and night without day.

Can you guess what that means? Because I was probably 9 and guessed it, but I guess things being pretty distinctly 12th century here, they're not really publicly aware of certain celestial events...

It takes several more adventures and brushes with death for Navarre to get on board with Imperius' plan, including him nearly killing Mouse in his wolf form while Mouse is trying to save him from drowning in a frozen river, but they get there eventually and ride into Aquila.

Navarre ends up charging into mass on horseback, having an amazing fight with the wicked Captain of the Guard, and then he confronts the Bishop.

Who is a fantastically weaselly scumbag

The final blow does not come, however, until the cathedrals enormous agate window is shattered, revealing what I'd guessed was coming half the movie ago:

"Day without night, night without day"
Solar Eclipse.

Isabeau walks in and the two confront the wicked Bishop together, breaking their curse. The Bishop tries to rally himself once more and attempts to kill the lovers while Navarre's back is turned, but he buries his family blade in the evil man.

Isabeau and Navarre then presumably live happily ever after!

So happy.

So yes, this is a slightly predictable film, if you've watched a lot of fantasy, but it's beautiful. I mean, how could it not be, being a Richard Donner film? It has fantastic 80s synth/70s demi-disco, which should feel entirely out of place in a historic fantasy but somehow works perfectly; the world is soaked in sunlight or moonlight; every threat feels like it could end in tragedy.

There are no bad actors in the main cast, and my only complaint is that every child is very obviously dubbed by the same falsetto-rich voice actor.

If you want to watch a movie where Rutger Hauer is a total badass, this is probably the film for you.

I'm going to miss him.

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