We’re delighted to have another chance to screen The Fairy, which opened DCA’s French Film Festival last November. The third feature from anarchic Belgian comedy trio Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy, The Fairy takes their laid-back eccentricity into the realms of the purely magical.

Set in the gloomy port city of Le Havre, we meet hotel night clerk Dom (Abel) whose quiet evening in front of the TV is interrupted by the arrival of an English tourist (Philippe Martz) and then a svelte, shoeless woman (Gordon) who claims she’s a fairy and grants Dom three wishes. Like any self-respecting Frenchman living outside of Paris, Dom asks for a scooter and an endless supply of gas. Although he gets his wish, what he really wants is the love of the fairy herself. Romance soon blossoms between the pair, who become partners in a series of elaborately crafted sight gags that showcase the duo's acrobatic prowess and gawky grace.

The Fairy is an idiosyncratic flight of fancy – an oddly fastidious blend of slapstick, circus, dance and trompe l’oeil illusionism that’s utterly sophisticated yet somehow winningly innocent. Part Tati, part Chaplin, and most definitely Keatonequese, these unique filmmakers have managed to craft one of the most distinctive comic styles in today’s cinema.