The Others (2001)

Alejandro Amenábar

Spain, France, USA

104 mins, color, English

Some time around the end of the Second World War, on some small island off the shores of England, in some classically isolated house permanently enveloped in classically ghostly mists, lives the hysterical Grace (played by the hysterical Nicole Kidman) with her two kids, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley). One day, three classically trippy servants show up to offer their services. The old and somewhat witchy Mrs. Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), the old and somewhat suspicious gardener Mr. Tuttle (Eric Sykes), and the young and somewhat strange mute Lydia (Elaine Cassidy). Since her previous servants have disappeared without explanation, Grace hires the trio so that everyone knows that nothing good can come of it.

THE OTHERS quickly moves into the well-trodden territory of haunted house flicks by having (1) a haunted house, (2) with a somewhat abnormal owner, who (3) sets bizarre rules (like always locking one door before opening another, and keeping the curtains drawn when the children are around), and (4) upon finding out that the servants have appeared in some inexplicable way, does not fire them on the spot. Grace is also a fervent Christian, which makes her even more suspicious, especially when she steadfastly refuses to believe in things supernatural. Rationality jibes religion. Of course, things go bump in the house.

In the vintage horror film tradition, THE OTHERS moves slowly, relying on menacing dialogue and scary music to create tension and anxiety about things unseen and things to come, and also like the old horror flicks, nothing ever happens. There is a lot of predictably trippy music, and scores of dramatic buildups that lead to, well, more trippy music. Sometimes this approach works for a scene or two but unless the audience gets a good scare here and there, it becomes a variant of the boy who cried wolf theme. We cease to expect to be scared, and so the buildups become simply tedious for everyone knows that nothing will ever happen when they are resolved. There are also many scenes that don't quite make it even to the status of a buildup, they are just there, for no good reason (attended by the trippy music, of course) and form cinematic cul de sacs, from which only the brave can escape by venturing out of the theater.

It is not only the pacing that is off, it is the director's persistence in trying to create an old-fashioned suspense by letting servants look ominously, especially from behind, or talk enigmatically, and let inexplicable events result in general unease that should bother the audience. This approach has never worked for me, for I prefer my suspense interspersed with some genuine scares. There was only one jump-out-of-your-seat moment in the entire film, which shows that the director could do it if he wanted to. Unfortunately, it appears near the very end of the film, at which point the bored audience jumped out of their seats and then started laughing, presumably because they enjoyed getting some payoff from suffering through the film.

This brings me to the final point about the finale. Truth be told, and very much unlike THE SIXTH SENSE, one can start guessing the ending somewhere half an hour before the end, especially when Grace's husband shows up in the mist and, when asked where he has been, answers "Looking for my home," and then adds, "Sometimes I bleed." If we were supposed to think that the servants were up to some mischief, well, then we should not have been shown Mrs. Mills and Lydia in the garden while the racket was going on in the house. In any case, the film should have spared us the explanation at the very end. I never understand why some films insist on insulting our intelligence by providing a synopsis of things we should have guessed already. This device is extremely annoying and artificial, not to mention that 100 per cent assurances spoil the sense of confusion and wonder, which I prefer, and which makes one walk out of the theater scratching one's head and thinking, "What did just happen? Oh, THAT makes sense because so-and-so scene meant this-and-that, and such-and-such character's statement implied it." The satisfaction of unraveling the mystery should not be neglected.

This satisfaction is actually what makes for a great horror/suspense: the story should give enough clues and scares to keep one going and wanting to guess, wanting to know what happened. One does not need to care about the characters that much, but the intellectual curiosity should be piqued at all times. As it stands, THE OTHERS primed our attention very well, and then left us to wander in the desert for 100 minutes until we were happy to be delivered from it by the lights coming on.

One must not neglect the acting, or lack of it thereof. Mrs. Kidman has never been able to portray more than steely looks and hysteria, which she also does in this film. Unfortunately, this is not what the story requires, and so we believe her barely concealed vulnerability bordering on insanity as much as we believe her phoney British accent. Elaine Cassidy should have been utilized for she has talent, but the director muted her and thereby wasted her. The rest of the cast is, well, the rest of the cast. The only obvious exception is the little Alakina Mann, who carries half of the film with her tour de force performance ranging from kid stuff, to genuinely disturbing moments. She has talent in abundance and she really shines, especially when she has to go head to head with Mrs. Kidman, who is no match for the girl. This is one of three rewarding experiences from the film. (The other two are the one scary moment at the end, and the photo album of the dead, which was troubling.)

August 23, 2001.