In a world where cynicism is ever on the rise, Adrianne and the Castle is magic, pure, beautiful unadulterated magic. Shannon Walsh’s intoxicating doc about grief, of losing your soul mate while living in the fantastical. A glorious ballad to love, it, like its late subject, is perfect.
Alan St-George built a castle in rural Illinois with his late love, Adrianne. Now facing life alone, he revisits their fantasy through musical reenactments, transporting him to the world they shared.
We only have one life on this planet (unless you love a bit of reincarnation), so isn’t it best to live it as big and brightly as you can? What happens if we never lose that childlike joy and wonder for everything around us? What would happen to us? Would we get lost when the “real world” comes along and takes us by surprise, or does it allow us a different viewpoint? “It’s never too late to have a great childhood”; it’s difficult not to love that. When someone with such charisma that her energy hits you like waves, how can you not be entranced by her? As she told her husband, she was her art. How can you not love and appreciate someone like that? Alan St-George did; if we had met her, we would have done so too.
Adrianne and the Castle work from early on because of how Shannon Walsh frames the documentary. Adrianne was clearly a force of nature, and as Alan states as he shows us her wardrobe, it is better to suggest giving a visual presentation of something rather than just talking about it. She was a woman we needed to see to believe, to take in, and it is 100% correct that we see, at the least, an iteration of her on the screen. In truth, I think she would have loved to have seen someone perform as her, to honour her and the way she tackled life, than to have people sit around and discuss her.
As beautiful a tribute, Adrianne and the Castle is, it is heartbreaking and predominantly a film about grief. How do you honour a person like that? Alan constantly struggles with the aching gap that his wife has left. It can never be filled, but gosh, the memories will be there forever. That is the only piece he can take with him as he continues without her. Hearing from people paying their own tribute to her, most of who didn’t even know her but were working as stand-ins for her warms you, and you can tell it warms him. Adrianne was unapologetically Adrianne, and he has that memory forever, even if he has, in his own words, become the ghost in the house.
We get reenactments of some non-recorded moments of Alan and Adrianne’s story, which works especially well. There is no exploitation in what Walsh does with this technique; if anything, it’s for the benefit of Alan and in honour of Adrianne. As mentioned, she had that character and humility about her that she would revel in having her story shared. Compare this in stark contrast to, say, The Flats, where it felt fully exploitative of someone with PTSD. Here, it feels like a hand on the shoulder for Alan, a form of comfort to his grief.
Walsh shows us all of St-George’s home; we learn about how they lived their life, met, their wedding day, and everything. Yet, she never delves into why they built this life for themselves, so out of whack with everyone else, so unique to the world. Then you sit back, think a bit, and realise there is no need to know the whys here. It’s not important in the slightest. They built this magical, gorgeously over-the-top home with rooms you could only dream of daring to have in your own home. It is the same with their personal life, too; they made decisions and stuck to them and while we are interested to know why all of our questions, in the end, they don’t really matter. The why becomes a small, inconsequential thing in this story of soul mates.
What a tribute, what an emotional joy Adrianne and the Castle is. It is a film that will not leave you anytime soon, and if anything, if we take even just a smidgen of what Adrianne stood for in her well-loved and wonderful life, well, then Walsh and St-George have done their job. Adrianne may be sadly gone from us, but her energy and mindset will carry on with everyone who watches this film about her, which is as good a tribute as you can get – an intoxicating documentary.
★★★★ 1/2
For more of our coverage of Fantasia Festival 2024 please check out our reviews below:
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