Photographing Fairies is a 1997 ethereal fantasy film directed by Nick Willing and is based on the novel by Steve Szilagyi. It was influenced by the infamous Cottingley fairies hoax. (The Fairies appear in a series of five photographs taken by Elsie Wright (1901–88) and Frances Griffiths (1907–86) in 1917)
Photographer Charles Castle (Toby Stephens) is beside himself with grief following the death of his new bride on their honeymoon.
He goes to war, working as a photographer in the trenches, photographing corpses. Following the war Charles earns his living making trick photos of dead soldiers for bereaved parents, when he is shown some photographs purporting to be of fairies. His search for the truth leads him to a village in Burkinwell, where he becomes enamoured with two British girls' assertion that they cavorted with fairies.
A visually stunning and surreal movie with spectacular cinematography and an excellent cast, it explores multiple folklore themes including; paganism, possession, hallucinogens and parapsychology.
The final scene is hauntingly dark, yet beautiful and highly memorable, enhanced by the magical music of Simon Boswell.
This is the sort of movie that can easily become a firm favourite after a single viewing. Not just for lovers of fairies and folklore, it is a very entertaining dreamy fantasy film.