By Leanna Pankratz (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 21, 2012
Director Lasse Hallström (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Casanova, Chocolat) set out to adapt Paul Torday’s 2006 political satire Salmon Fishing in the Yemen into cinematic form. However, the finished product falls far short of Torday’s original intent.
The film revolves around Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor), a fish expert, and Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt), a Sheikh’s female representative. This particular Sheikh has a penchant for fishing, and Harriet is passionate about making his dreams of a fisherman’s paradise in the Middle East come to pass. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen deals with all the consequences of such a plot, and does not fail to explore the tentative romance between the male and female leads, turning what was originally an absurdist political satire into something more along the lines of a pseudo-political romantic dramedy.
Performances by both Blunt and McGregor are commendable, subdued, and believable. Their ability to attain a sense of urgent poignancy in very minimalist scenes—such as the sending of an email, or a small, telling glance—without resorting to onscreen histrionics is a sign of actors who truly know their craft. The will-they-won’t-they relationship depicted by the two in the film is described by The New York Times as a “polite, but discreetly charged connection,” and that is perhaps a perfect summation of the tone achieved by the excellent twosome that is Ewan and Emily.
McGregor significantly tones down his trademark roguish Scotsman fire to button into the anxious, stuffed-shirt character that is Dr. Alfred “Fred” Jones. Blunt’s Harriet is restrained, but does not fall into the category of a buttoned-up British female heroine that she could have easily fallen into. In short, Salmon Fishing is a film that utilizes two great talents.
It is unfortunate, however, when grand performances are inhibited by a lackluster film. The broad, sweeping characters portrayed are plundered by a frankly unbelievable and forced storyline that often finds itself stuck in a sort of purgatory between serious political drama and whimsical romantic comedy – an unfortunate appeal to audiences that will leave them more confused than riveted or emotionally involved. It resorts to cute, awkward moments of romantic tension, and the depiction of a caricatured, mystical Middle East that only serves to heighten its predictability.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen could have been smart if it only had figured out what it wanted to be. The concept of a near impossible feat—the idea of farmed salmon being released into a makeshift fishing paradise—could be related to the impossibility of Harriet and Fred’s relationship; can or can’t it be achieved? That would have been the romantic comedy route. The implications of political shifts due to such lofty goals could have also been explored deeper, creating what could have been a political drama.
The original 2006 novel is light-years away from the film, both in tone and plot development; the book is an absurdist political confection that is best likened to a modern day P.G. Wodehouse work. The film could have followed suit, and would have been stronger for it, but ends up rather forgettable in its departure from the original piece. It becomes instead a stock romance with political undertones with plot twists and subplots that grow more confusing as the film goes on. “Fundamentally unfeasible,” says Alfred Jones of the idea to fish for salmon in the Yemen, and that same statement could be applied to what this film set out to accomplish.
