"
if there 's a beast in men , it meets its match in women , too .
" starring sarah patterson , angela lansbury , tusse silberg , david warner directed by neil jordan written by jordan and angela carter , from a story by carter cinematography by bryan loftus in recent years , there has been a trend in the field of fantasy : writers have been revisiting the fertile world of myth and fairy tale and reclaiming that world , investing it with new life and energy .
in modern times , fairy tales have become disneyfied and debased ; they have become trite adventures involving leering witches , friendly dwarves , and cuddly talking animals .
but in their original forms , fairy tales have a dark , wicked edge .
crows tear out the eyes of cinderella 's sisters , a gorier fate then they receive in the animated version .
hansel and gretel relish cooking the witch in her own oven .
writers have become fascinated by the bloodier , morally ambivalent aspects of fairy tales , and are now modernizing the old stories while simultaneously going back to their roots .
before this trend was in vogue , angela carter -- whose stories always have a dark , wicked , subversive edge -- had been reinventing fairy tales for years .
in the company of wolves , she and neil jordan retell the story of red riding hood , enlivening it with werewolves , rolls royces , and a visit from satan .
the story is structured as a dream , occurring in the mind of rosaleen ( sarah patterson ) , an adolescent girl about whose ' real ' life we learn very little .
within the dream , there are a number of inset stories , most told by dream - rosaleen 's grandmother ( angela lansbury ) , and these tales gloss the central story in intriguing , suggestive ways .
the result is a surprisingly successful example of a sinister , contemporary fairy tale .
i say " surprisingly " because there are so many ways this film could have gone wrong .
and there are ways in which it does .
the performances are mediocre , except for lansbury's --
she finds the right note for the prim
, apple - cheeked granny , the wise and stern teller of cautionary tales .
the soundtrack , synth - heavy , reminded me of bad 80s horror movies , as did the special effects in the shapechanging scenes .
probably state - of - the - art at the time
, they are now laughable .
but jordan succeeds at what i consider the trickiest aspect of the film : he transcends the poor acting / music / effects and conveys a sense of the fantastic , of otherness .
one of the problems in adapting full - blown fantasies is that fantasy is often best left to the imagination of the reader , rather than being subjected to the ' realism ' of the screen .
part of me would love to see an adaptation of ' the lord of the rings , ' but , on the other hand , i know that any filmmaker 's recreation of ents , hobbits , and balrogs is inevitably going to be really lame compared to what i picture in my mind .
this makes jordan 's accomplishment here seem mighty impressive to me : he imbues the company of wolves with a genuine sense of magic and mystery .
the somewhat ruritanian dreamworld becomes a kind of ur - reality .
the sunshine is exceptionally warm and abundant .
the nights are quiet and misty and eerie and ghostly .
the peasant village is rustic and cozy , the woods old and hoary .
this archetypal realm is the setting for a smart , subtle , literate script , a script which is as good as you 'd expect from jordan ( himself an accomplished fiction writer ) and carter . for carter , the cauldron of story is a witches ' brew , bubbling over with primal ingredients : mist - shrouded forests , ancient graveyards , virginal girls and wise women , wolves with glowing eyes .
she adeptly blends them all together .
there is a symbolic richness to the film ; everything is permeated with a sense of significance .
the point of it all , i think , is to represent a girl 's rites - of - passage on an unconscious , primordial level .
a night - journey through the forest , from the village to the grandmother 's home , is the crux of the company of wolves .
" do n't stray from the path , " rosaleen is told , again and again , and the path is both literal and figurative : the path through the forest and the path of life .
staying on the path is the conventional approach suggested by rosaleen 's elders .
carter and jordan , never conventional , explore what goes on when you leave the path .
those who stray will supposedly meet with a dark fate .
this fate is literalized in the dream as werewolves , but the werewolves connote many things : death , sex , knowledge .
if straying from the path leads to death , then it 's not a good idea -- but if that 's what you have to risk to get sex and knowledge ( and therefore power ) , then maybe it 's worth the risk .
when you leave the path , the world becomes a dangerous , ambiguous place , but it 's full of potential .
and it 's certainly more interesting than the disney version .
accomplishment here seem mighty impressive a genuine sense of magic and mystery finds the right note a smart , subtle , literate script , a script which is as good as you 'd expect the result is a surprisingly successful example it 's certainly more interesting succeeds at what i consider the trickiest aspect of the film : he transcends the poor acting / music / effects and conveys a sense of the fantastic , of otherness