A woman who lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children becomes convinced that her family home is haunted.
This is a masterpiece of thriller. Nearly everything about this movie is perfect in its subtle detail and ambiance. You doubt everything and everyone. Every dark corner is suspicious and every ray of light may reveal some mystery. Love it, love it.
The first standout is the acting. Kidman is magnificent. It's incredible to watch her icy, uptight visage gradually crumble and melt with terror as everything she believes in crashes around her. Of the two child actors, my favorite was the little dark-haired boy with his pouting lips and mother-worship. The daughter is a stark contrast and I found her nasty tendencies hard to swallow. She serves her purpose well though, and her acting improves as the movie goes on. Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan with her bird-like eyes was perfect as Kidman's new servant. I've seen her in other movies. I wish she was in more, she's underrated.
The setting of the ancient family house occupied by children and a slowly unraveling woman reminded me of The Innocents and I loved the old-school thriller opening credits with the pencil illustrations and haunting violin score. The set-up of the rooms reminded me a play, with each old table or music box carefully set in its place to create the perfect scene.
There were only two things I disliked about this movie: 1) A rather random appearance of a character, though I do understand its purpose, it still seemed weird and 2) the gardener's acting, I thought he was terrible. Everything else...thriller perfection.
No comments:
Post a Comment