Magic in the Moonlight

As part of the candidating process, I have to be ready to discuss and reflect theologically upon a theological book, a non-theological book, a film and an exhibition of some sort. For my film, I've chosen 'Magic in the Moonlight', a sweet romantic comedy written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Colin Firth and Emma Stone.

Stanley Crawford (Firth) is a magician who uses the stage name Wei Ling Soo; he specialises in vanishing elephants, sawing women in half and unexpected reappearances. His oriental illusionism is highly successful, and we first find him in Berlin, in the middle of a 1928 tour of Europe. In addition to his stage show, Stanley is a renowned skeptic when it comes to all things spiritual and religious. He has a reputation for unmasking fake mediums and utter contempt for the idea of there being anything beyond the material world, complete with an arrogance that would make Mr Darcy cringe! The story begins with him encountering an old friend and fellow magician, Howard, who asks for help in trying to rumble a young American medium called Sophie Baker (Stone), who is currently in the French Riviera with a rich American family, the Catledges. Never one to resist a challenge, Stanley agrees to go there and reveal another fraudster. However, things don't go quite as he anticipates...

Upon arrival, Stanley manages to get on the wrong side of Caroline Catledge and her husband George by implying that anyone taken in by a medium must be somewhat dim. He next succeeds in confusing Caroline's brother Brice, who is thoroughly smitten with Sophie and practicing serenading her, with his sarcasm and ridiculing tone. When he finally meets Sophie, who is chaperoned by her mother, she gets a 'mental impression' of him as being connected in some way with the Orient and having had recent business in Germany. This doesn't particularly impress him, but at a later séance, a candle that Howard confirms wasn't being manipulated in some way seemingly floats in mid air of its own accord. This does make him stop and think! Later, Sophie reveals his true identity as Wei Ling Soo, and in a subsequent visit to Stanley's beloved aunt Vanessa, appears to discern details of a secret love affair by handling a set of pearls. The latter is enough to convince Stanley that Sophie is not just another charlatan, but the real deal.

As the two talk, it becomes clear that Stanley sees himself as an ardent rationalist. For him, the notion of there being any meaning or purpose to life is just childish thinking, a crutch that people need to drop even if hanging onto such beliefs gives them hope or helps them cope with life's ups and downs. He sees spiritualists as preying on vulnerable people, and religion as a kind of comfort blanket; moreover, he states that the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche has dealt with the 'God matter'. Even his relationship with his fiancé Olivia has more to do with logic than love. Yet, meeting Sophie has begun to open his eyes to new possibilities. There's one scene where their car breaks down and they take shelter in an observatory Stanley once visited as a child; he talks about being freaked out by the vastness of the universe as a boy, but next to Sophie it doesn't feel intimidating. Instead, he agrees when she calls it romantic. They later spend a week together while Brice, who is keen to propose to Sophie and is planning an elaborate honeymoon, is away on business. It's clear that Sophie's growing increasingly close to him, and that she's enriched and brightened up his dull, pessimistic life. However, while Stanley is prepared to stand up in front of the press to affirm Sophie's gifts and tell the world he's been wrong all these years, he doesn't reciprocate her feelings.

Matters come to a head when, having just finished his press conference, Stanley is told that Vanessa has been in a car crash and is seriously injured. George drives him to the hospital, and he begins to pray for her safety. However, after rambling about having no right to ask anything of God, he snaps out of it and realises he's being played for a fool. He returns to the Catledges' house to confront Sophie - if she is what she says she is, why didn't she predict the accident? After he supposedly goes for a lie down, Howard and Sophie talk about the former's joy about finally having got one over on his old friend with the latter's help, getting a shock when Stanley unexpectedly reappears in a nearby chair. He initially refuses to forgive them, but a later conversation with a now recovered Vanessa helps him see that, irrational as it appears to be, he loves Sophie more than he admires Olivia. There's a wonderfully funny scene in which he tries to propose by telling Sophie how lucky she'd be to have someone like him (a genius, apparently!), as opposed to Brice and his money. Although initially unmoved, the film ends with the two kissing, having finally got there!

I love this film, partly because it's simply a very sweet, gentle comedy with a happy ending and much humour along the way, and partly because it raises some interesting questions. Sally and I saw it together and realised that many of the arguments we've had throughout our relationship about the place of science and rationality over against what I would regard as superstition and nonsense were being played out on the screen. Coming from a scientific background (I have a physics PhD), I'm deeply sceptical about things like stories of paranormal activity and claims to communicate with the dead, whereas I guess she's more open to those things as possibilities. However, I am a deeply committed Christian, which is something that I appreciate requires a leap of faith, a trust in something that cannot be verified using the scientific method.

In the film, Stanley is portrayed as a kind of cross between Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, with a splash of Mr Darcy at his worst, who by his own admission towards the end of the film needed bringing down a peg or two. I'm ashamed to say it reminds me somewhat of my teenage self! He comes to realise that there is more to life than can simply be arrived at using cold logic, and that if nothing else, love certainly is a kind of magic. My own journey of coming to faith involved has been fundamentally shaped by a couple of encounters with God that don't make any sense if I try to explain them any other way. In later posts, I want to explore the relationship between the physical sciences and Christian faith in more depth, as the film asks the question of how a scientist can also believe in Gog, but for today, I want to finish by sharing one of my most powerful experiences of God at work in my life, confounding logic.

The first term of my PhD study in Durham was really tough, as I was moving into physics from pure mathematics and finding the graduate courses I had to do overwhelming, as well as home being a scary place for various reasons. At the end of that term, I went back to Bath for a few days to escape, and got cajoled into going to the CU carol service. The talk was basically about how babies are cute, so I tuned out and spent time admiring the Abbey ceiling. Something he said at the end of the talk (can’t remember what) must’ve touched something deep in me, though, as I burst into tears and couldn’t stop crying. A couple of days later, I found myself praying that if God really loved me, I needed to know for sure. Through a combination of circumstances, I found myself reading ‘The Growing Pains of Adrian Plass’ a few days later. In this book, there’s a passage where he imagines Jesus welcoming adopted children; even the kid who’s scared and hiding at the back gets a glimpse of Jesus’ smile and knows they’re loved. That touched something deep down inside; it was like the scared child within me getting a huge hug. That night, God’s love became a reality, rather than an intellectual construct.