Rated: M
Directed by: George Miller
Written by: George Miller and Augusta Gore
Based on the Short Story, ‘The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye’ by: A. S. Byatt
Produced by: Doug Mitchell and George Miller
Starring: Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.
‘Whatever it is, I’m sure it has an interesting story.’
Three Thousand Years of Longing is a film about stories, about a narratologist, Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) and her fateful discovery of a bottle containing a Djinn (Idris Elba).
Alithea lectures about stories, the old mythos, the science, the metaphor; how people have told each other stories to escape the chaos of the world.
Alithea’s a solitary creature who finds her feelings through stories. And she’s content with that.
So when the Djinn asks what she desires – she has no answer. Alithea wishes for nothing. Besides, she’s read all the stories, she knows that with wishes granted, there is always a cost.
She recites the story of the magic fish discovered by three fishermen, who grants them one wish each. The first fisherman wishes to be home, his wish is granted, and he disappears. The second fisherman wishes to be playing in a field with his children – his wish is also granted. The third fishmen becomes lonely and wishes that his friends were there with him…
Even the jokes about wishes end badly.
But if the Djinn is ever to escape his prison, Alithea must be granted three wishes of her deepest desires. To convince Alithea that she must desire something even if she doesn’t realise it, the Djinn begins his story.
There’re stories within stories in this film as the Djinn weaves his narrative into a fantastical tale of queens and kings, of sultans and love.
Each chapter is given a title such as, ‘Two Brothers and a Djinn’ and, ‘A Djinn’s Oblivion’.
He’s had a lot of bad luck over his thousands of years of imprisonment.
It’s a sweeping tale with decadent settings of harems and bazaars full of colourful glass bottles, gadgets invented by a hidden third wife who’s frustrated by her bridled genius.
It’s a colourful escapism which is the point of the film (stories within stories).
In the production notes, director and writer, George Miller (Babe (1995), Happy Feet (2006) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)) is quoted: Alithea Binnie is a narratologist. She studies stories throughout the ages. “We seemed to be hard-wired for story” poses Miller. “Why?”
Miller read British author A.S. BYATT’s 1994 short story ‘The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye’ in the late 1990s. “It’s a story that seemed to probe many of the mysteries and paradoxes of life, and so succinctly” Miller states.
The Djinn laments his idiocy of finding himself trapped because of his love of a woman’s company and Alithea finds she has a desire afterall. There’s a letting go, coming together, letting go to be together.
It just takes a few circles in the film to get there.
I kept thinking, Oh, OK, that’s the end. But then there’s another part, another chapter.
It felt, ambitious.
But it all comes back around in a satisfying way.
Alithea is free, she’s solitary, she can be and want without losing herself; the reaching out lets her know herself by understanding the Djinn, by the two of them discussing life.
It’s a magical film but also grounded because the characters are genuinely relatable: delightful.