Ulysses film blooms a ‘masterpiece’ Paul O’Brien

IT’S a literary work so daunting in scale and reputation that just one filmmaker has ever had the courage to adapt Ulysses for the big screen

US director Joseph Strick's 1967 treatment of Ulysses was subsequently banned for 33 years and, as a result, James Joyce's epic never really permeated the consciousness of cinema- lovers.

Until now, that is. Next Sunday sees the Irish premiere of a new screen version of Ulysses, and critics are already hailing it as a masterpiece.

Bl,.mx (pronounced Bloom), written and directed by Seán Walsh and shot on location in Dublin last year, features a stellar cast and is largely faithful to Joyce's work.

Excitement is growing in advance of Sunday night's screening at the Galway Film Fleadh.

While the book remains one of the great literary paradoxes possibly the most famous of the 20th century but remaining unread by the masses - the new film will make many more familiar with the fictional events of June 16, 1904.

"Ulysses is recognised as the greatest novel of the 20th century and yet it has always been my view that the book remains hidden to the vast majority of people," Mr Walsh said.

"In adapting the novel, I set myself three goals: firstly, to present the story to a wider audience; secondly, to reveal the utter humanity and, indeed, humour of the novel; and, thirdly, to attempt to sketch some of the styles and tricks employed by Joyce," he said.

The last of those reasons is also the inspiration behind the unusual typography in the film's title.

"I had never intended to call it Ulysses, because if you say that, people will think they need a degree in English to watch this film.

"So I decided to call it Bloom, and when I gave the graphic designer the brief, she came back with the idea that if Joyce could fool around with typography and literary styles, then she could do the same. She came up with Bl,.m and I loved it."

Cinema fans will love it, too, if its reception at Italy's Taormina BNL Film Festival last month is anything to go by. The 5m film had its world premiere there and was widely praised.

In particular, the performances of Stephen Rea, as Leopold Bloom, and Angeline Ball, as his wife, were lauded.

Rea is brilliantly at ease in Leopold's shoes, despite the complexity of the character, while Ball is simply scintillating as the sensual Molly.

"The book was shocking at the time," said Walsh.

"In its mundaneness, it is extraordinary because our lives contain waking up, going to the toilet, masturbation, birth and death and sex, that's in the book and therefore it's replicated in the film. I

reland's best-known Joycean scholar, Senator David Norris gave the movie his full backing.

"The film is brilliant, witty, innovative and imaginatively faithful to Joyce's work," he said.

Effusive praise, though, won't be enough to get it into cinemas worldwide and Walsh is currently working hard at putting distribution deals in place.

Whereas Ulysses tells the story of Leopold's one-day odyssey through Dublin, Bl,.m was an odyssey of 10 years work for Walsh.