~ by Rebecca Fisher

It’s a simple but powerful premise: two lovers are under a curse – she a hawk by day, he a wolf by night. In this way they’re always together, but eternally apart.

It’s a deeply resonant idea for a story, one that seems so entrenched in fairy tale tradition that many fans of Ladyhawke remain under the impression it’s based on an ancient folktale. In truth, it’s entirely the creation of screen-writer Edward Khmara, who eventually received a cash settlement and official apology from the Writer’s Guild of America after the studio wrongly marketed it as a story inspired by a medieval legend.

In many ways the simplicity of the story is as much the film’s weakness as it is its strength. Though it’s difficult not to become invested in the plight that has befallen brave knight Etienne of Navarre (Rutger Hauer) and the beautiful Isabeau d’Anjou (Michelle Pfieffer), a lot of padding has to be added to their narrative in order to fill out a movie-length running time.

As such, a third character is added to the proceedings in order to act as a sort of audience-surrogate: Phillipe Gaston (Matthew Broderick), better known as “the Mouse”, is a petty young thief who begins the film by escaping the dungeons of Aquila and is subsequently rescued from pursuing guards by Navarre.

Phillipe – better known as the Mouse.

Becoming a means of communication between the two lovers, and keeping up a one-sided conversation with God over the course of the story, Phillipe (or at least his American accent) is as incongruous as the film’s score: a synthesized pop/rock-based soundtrack that is completely at odds with the medieval setting. Add to that, I can’t help but feel the story would have been vastly improved by a more memorable villain.

The man who laid the curse on Navarre and Isabeau is the Bishop of Aquila (John Wood), and it’s he that Navarre believes he must kill if he’s ever to be with his love again – but considering his presence is minimal and his motivation underwhelming, he never seems a particularly threatening adversary.

So why is Ladyhawke featured in this column? Because whenever the film returns to the story of the lovers, it finds itself on firmer ground. Hauer and Pfieffer are accomplished actors who play their parts with the appropriate air of tragedy and nobility, and even manage to have a great sense of chemistry despite sharing only one scene together.

The rest of the time, they’re playing opposite a bird or wolf.

Filmed on location in Italy, it takes full advantage of the beautiful vistas and architecture to provide the story’s backdrop, and on the whole it captures a unique atmosphere that combines romance and realism – probably helped by the fact that the nightly/daily transformation of the lovers is the film’s only magical component.

Much like many other films in this column, Ladyhawke has since attained cult status – but it’s also a film that feels ripe for a remake. No studio would dare touch something as classic as The Princess Bride, but this? That’s a real possibility, and I personally would love to see an updated Ladyhawke, with a more fitting soundtrack and advanced special-effects to supplement a fresh take on a story that feels timeless.

The titular Ladyhawke, against one of the film’s stunning backdrops.
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Next Time: Labyrinth

With the recent passing of David Bowie, it seems a fitting tribute to revisit Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, the coming-of-age tale filled to the brim with Muppets and music, mystery and glitter, and a metric tonne worth of bizarre visual metaphors for female adolescence. You know what I’m talking about.
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About The Reviewer:

Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com and her They’re All Fictional blog.

To read Rebecca’s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:

Big Worlds On Small Screens

Rebecca won the 2015 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Fan Writer, for writing that included Big Worlds On Small Screens.