Nicolas Flamel Strikes Again

Rating: 9/10 (13 April 2009)

As the first of the famous Harry Potter films, this one managed to restrain its special effects sufficiently not to overwhelm the viewers with too many dazzling visuals at the expense of the story and the amusing characters. The result is most entertaining, and Emma Watson was perfectly cast as the character Hermione. The production is full of famous actors, some recognisable, some not. Robbie Coltrane is particularly effective and endearing, with a broad Somerset accent, of all things! Maggie Smith has little to do but wrinkle her nose. But there is little point in discussing a production which has been reviewed to death and talked about until everyone has lost their breath, and there is nothing to add about all that. In America, this film title used the phrase 'sorcerer's stone' because Americans were presumably considered too ill-educated to know what the Philosopher's Stone is. In Britain and Canada, the title used the correct phrase of 'the Philosopher's Stone'. The Philosopher's Stone (correctly shown in the film as being red in colour) is reputed to have existed, but no one is certain. It was the end-product of alchemy, and had the ability to turn all metals into gold if you sprinkled a little of it on, say, lead, for instance. It also could produce a medicine to allow you to live indefinitely in good health, perhaps for centuries. J. K. Rowling sticks some genuine esoterica into her stories sometimes, and in this one she incorporated the fourteenth century alchemist Nicolas Flamel, whose presumed dates are sometimes given as 1330-1418. He really existed, and his tombstone may be seen in the Musee de Cluny in Paris, on the left as you go up a staircase, affixed to a wall. The staff of the Museum either do not know or pretend not to know who Flamel is, and 'if ye seek ye shall not find', as they all look blank. As far as I know, I may be the only person who has fully deciphered the symbology of this strange stone. Flamel faked his own death to avoid arrest and imprisonment by the French king, who wanted to keep him captive and force him to make gold for him. The tombstone was designed by Flamel himself before he disappeared. For a long time it rested in place in the nave of the Paris church of Saint-Jacques la Boucherie, but that church was demolished long ago, with only its high tower remaining. The Tour Saint-Jacques has now had its scaffolding removed, and is looking splendid and clean. It has long been the symbol of modern French esotericism (which the French call esoterisme), and a famous French esoteric periodical even bore its name. The tombstone was salvaged from the demolition and used for many years, turned upside-down, as a chopping-board for herbs, by a herb-seller in his shop. It was recognised in the 19th century and preserved by an antiquary. The old stone house of Flamel, known as 'the oldest house in Paris', still stands and you can go and eat there in a small and expensive restaurant called after Flamel. There are even two little streets in the vicinity of the Tour named Rue Nicolas Flamel and Rue Perenelle, the latter of which is named for his wife and alchemical collaborator. In the film, Flamel is said still to be alive, and the Stone is his, although he does not appear in the story himself. What happened to Flamel, who was Fulcanelli, all of these things are continuing mysteries which are far more interesting than any J. K. Rowling story. Nevertheless, it is good that young people are being given a small dose of these things in palatable form by Rowling, as it might open their minds, if they can stop texting trivia to each other for long enough to allow their minds to be opened, that is.