A Fiennes Time

Joseph Fiennes turned more than a few heads when he strolled into the Odeon West End last night, appearing in the flesh to attend the LFF gala screening of his latest film, Leo. Using James Joyce's epic tome, Ulysses, as a reference point, Mehdi Norowzian's literary drama Intertwines two plot-lines. Fiennes' character, Stephen, who has just been released from serving a 15-year sentence for murder, gets a job in a diner. Writing in his spare time, he tells us the story of Elizabeth Shuh's alcoholic mother and her son, Leopold Bloom - named after the principal character in Joyce's hefty work. "Steven is a guy trying to catch up with his past, he's a solitary figure, his life is full of pain and he's trying to break the cycle of abuse," Fiennes told Empire Online. "I think it's a humble piece, it's full of atmosphere and a certain mood and that pervades throughout." A stunningly shot film, Leo is enticing and intriguing as viewers are drawn both into Stephen's troubled psyche and the spiralling descent into paranoia and guilt of his heroine. The seamlessness with which the film switches between narratives is commendable and it is this aspect that Fiennes found appealing. "We've seen that kind of conceit before, but I thought it was told in a really refreshing, interesting and human way."