Terry Gilliam is a director who is perhaps best known for one thing: uninhibited imagination. Indeed, the Monty Python alum has an unofficial collection of movies to his name dubbed “The Imagination Trilogy”. It is no surprise, then, that when faced with his most radically controlled production in The Brothers Grimm in 2005, Terry Gilliam would follow with his most unhinged release to date that same year. Tideland is the total opposite of its twin, with not just a lack of concern for broad appeal, but even a recognition of its own illusiveness. As Gilliam himself states in his introduction to the DVD release, “many of you are not going like this film. Many of you… are going to love it”.

What Makes ‘Tideland’ A Difficult Film?

Tideland, based on a novel of the same name by Mitch Cullin, follows the story of a little girl named Jeliza-Rose (Jodelle Ferland), and the film is seen largely through her perspective. Jeliza-Rose is the picture of childlike innocence, remaining optimistic and imaginative even in the face of some truly disturbing content. Throughout the film, she experiences the drug-related deaths of both of her parents (Jennifer Tilly and Jeff Bridges), being menaced by a paranoid woman named Dell (Janet McTeer), and even sees her father’s dead body taxidermied. Famously, European audiences who attended Tideland’s premiere were compelled to walk out during a scene showing Jeliza-Rose preparing a heroin needle for her father, Noah. And even more atendees would leave when she sits on the deceased man’s lap. Gilliam even dares to go as far as showing a confused kiss shared between Jeliza-Rose and a mentally impaired man she befriends named Dickens (Brendan Fletcher). Yes, Tideland is a daring movie, but not a second of these difficult scenes is done exploitatively, and every one of them has its purpose in the film.

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Terry Gilliam is well known for his fascination with madness as a retreat from terrible reality, with the concept featuring heavily in films like Brazil and The Fisher King. Even the lighthearted Time Bandits dabbles in mental escape, and like Time Bandits, Tideland explores how a child might flee into their imagination to escape any troubles they are ill-equipped to cope with. Jeliza-Rose has a terrible life by most standards, with uncaring parents and a multitude of hardships. But rather than run away from her problems, she imagines a world she can understand better. In her mind, her father’s heroin trips are just “vacations”, and when he dies, she believes he is simply on a longer vacation. She descends deeper into her own mind, concocting stories about the squirrels that live in the attic and having long talks with dolls’ heads. And when her neighbor Dell taxidermies her father because of some unrequited love they once had, Jeliza-Rose is happy to live in that fantasy too.

‘Tideland’ is Poetry in Horror

Tideland is essentially about the fantasies, dark or otherwise, of three people. Dell believes she can finally be with Noah even though he’s dead. Dickens, Dell’s brother, has epilepsy and had part of his brain removed, which causes him to suffer from delusions. Jeliza-Rose lets a multitude of fantasies into her young mind, perhaps because it is easier than facing her real life, or perhaps because she truly does not understand reality. In many instances, particularly when real danger is involved, she seems to know she is pretending and even seems afraid when Dickens does not share that same understanding. Throughout the movie, Jeliza-Rose confronts the heavy concepts of love, death, danger, and even abuse in the same imaginative, utterly innocent manner. In this way, Tideland might be Gilliam’s most darkly beautiful exploration yet. In true auteur fashion, Gilliam does not tell the audience every meaning outright, but leaves viewers to make of his dark, beautiful poem what they will. Many critics did not give it that chance, but others did; exactly the sort of split that Gilliam himself predicted, and outright proof that Tideland has something important to say.

Tideland is not an easily digestible movie, and many scenes will make the casual viewer squirm in their seat, but that is what it is meant to do. It is visually gorgeous, led by a masterclass of a child performance by Jodelle Ferland, and chock-full of Gilliam’s signature imaginative storytelling. The director said of his audience “…many of you won’t know what to think when the film finishes, but hopefully, you will be thinking”. Anyone hoping to get something out of Tideland should approach it with an open mind, and through a child’s perspective, if possible. There is beauty in the darkness of Tideland, but it is not for the faint of heart nor the rigid thinker.

Tideland presents a surreal narrative following a young girl who, after losing her parents, retreats into a fantasy world of her own creation. Set in a rural backdrop, the film explores themes of innocence and resilience amidst desolation.Release Date October 13, 2005 Director Terry Gilliam Cast Jodelle Ferland , Janet McTeer , Jennifer Tilly , Jeff Bridges , Brendan Fletcher , Dylan Taylor , Wendy Anderson , Sally Crooks , Alden Adair , Mitch Cullin , Harry Gilliam , Kent Nolan , David Stefanyshyn Runtime 120 Minutes Main Genre Sci-Fi

Tideland is available to stream on Tubi in the U.S.

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