The Little Mermaid revisited

MERMAIDS are having a bit of a moment right now.

This week Netflix released its new docu-series MerPeople about the billion dollar industry built up around performers who swim in fishtails for a living.

Now here comes Disney’s live action adaptation of its original 1989 animation with the opening next week of The Little Mermaid (PG) at the Regal Picturehouse in Henley.

With lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda, the man behind such hit musicals as In The Heights and Hamilton, as
co-composer and Rob Marshall directing, the film features star-in-the-making Halle Bailey in the title role of Ariel.

Fans of the original will know the story, itself based on a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen, King Triton’s headstrong youngest daughter thirsts for adventure and the land beyond her ocean home.

Visiting the surface, she rescues the dashing Prince Eric from a shipwreck and falls in love. But she must enlist the help of evil sea witch Ursula who agrees to make her human in order to follow her heart.

Melissa McCarthy plays Ursula with Javier Bardem in the role of Ariel’s royal father Triton.

The Little Mermaid has a running time of two hours.

If the cost of living crisis is hitting hard you will sympathise with Julie, the central character in the French drama Full Time (PG).

A single mum with the gruelling job of head chambermaid in a five-star Paris hotel, her life is a constant struggle as she juggles commuting from her remote Paris suburb and caring for her kids, Nolan and Chloe, while looking for a better job to make better use of her university education.

Only making matters worse are the constant train strikes and the late alimony payments from her former husband which she needs to survive.

All the film’s actresses went through maid service training before taking up their roles and its star Laure Calamy took a course at Le Bristol hotel in Paris to understand the gestures and postures specific to the job. She won best actress at the 2021 Venice Film Festival.

Full Time has a running time of one hour, 27 minutes.