Once upon a time, a novelist-professor named Chet Raymo wrote a magically sweet story called The Dork of Cork. Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg (The Object of Beauty) read the story and said, “Let us begin with beauty” as he turned the story into an equally sweet celluloid fairy tale. So he cast the ethereal French actress Anne Parillaud as the beautiful French girl named Bernadette who left her country as a stowaway on an American boat returning from Normandy at the end of World War II. Paying her way with sexual favors, Bernadette became pregnant and was eventually discovered and escorted off the boat in Ireland, where she met Jack Kelly (Byrne), a kind customs officer. Jack helped Bernadette deliver her baby, and through his love for her and the saintliness of Jack’s wife they took Bernadette and young Frankie (Pentony) into their home. Jack shared his love for the stars in the nighttime sky with Frankie, who grew up to be a small man with a big heart. From Jack he also learned to appreciate beauty, and Frankie became enchanted with Jack’s youngest daughter Emma (Cates), who was quite delicately beautiful but very sad. As he became older, Frankie watched his mother slowly fade away from life, despite being loved by men like Jack and the American soldier Terry (Dillon), who was from Texas even though his accent sounded more like Brooklyn. Then one day, Frankie became Frank (Walker), an older version of the little boy who loved the stars. So he wrote his mother’s story and called it The Nightstalk and sold many copies and became somewhat famous. But he was still a lonely man who wanted to meet a woman who shared his love for all things astronomical. And then another day came and he found Emma (Davies), older but not as sad as she once was. And perhaps they lived happily ever after. But that’s not as important as listening to Frankie tell his mother’s story, which has its ups and downs but works as a love story in many ways. And despite Dillon’s ridiculous Texas accent, his sexy Neanderthal qualities make him an appealing if misguided Prince Charming. But, above all, what is special about Frankie Starlight is the way it captures the magic of the nighttime sky and throws it across the movie screen, even if only for a little while.
This article appears in April 12 • 1996 (Cover).