The Others
**
Cinema
Releases - November 2, 2001
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 12. 101
minutes. Written and directed by Alejandro Amenabar. Starring Nicole Kidman,
Fionnula Flanagan, Alakina Mann, James Bentley, Eric Sykes, Christopher
Eccleston.
"The Others" is yet more proof that
modern Hollywood has no idea how to go about making ghost stories; it's a
flat and tepid spook tale with no personality that goes on and on. For whatever
ungodly reason, there are those who are saying it will receive Oscar nominations
for best picture and best actress, and I suppose the six nominations for
"The Sixth Sense" prove that anything can happen.
Here's the funny thing. I didn't like "The Sixth
Sense", because I felt it built to a conclusion that it never had any intention
of reaching -- the whole thing turned out to be a set-up for a shallow twist.
At the time it was all the rage, I told anyone who would listen that there
was a far better movie around with a surprise ending and uneasy atmosphere,
and that movie was Alejandro Amenabar's "Open Your Eyes". "The Others" was
directed by Amenabar, and yet it's not even as good as "The Sixth
Sense".
"The Others" takes place in a large house on the
island of Jersey in 1945. Nicole Kidman stars as Grace, a mother of two children
who herself suffers from an aversion to loud noise and whose kids are both
intensely allergic to light. These conditions mean nothing in terms of the
story, but conveniently allow the film to be constantly dark and silent,
and feature lots of weird shots of Kidman obsessively locking
doors.
The movie begins as Kidman is hiring three new
servants for the house, and follows the six residents over the course of
a few weeks as they go about their business while beginning to become bothered
by strange noises and happenings. Kidman's daughter has been saying for ages
that she's been seeing ghosts, and gradually Kidman comes to believe
it.
I don't have a problem with the deliberate pacing
of the film, but I do object to the way it pretends to be developing when
it's really just meandering. Amenabar spends a lot of time with his characters
but never manages to make them familiar. It's especially impossible to get
a read on the Kidman character. Does her fundamentalist Christianity, stiffness
of manner and irrational mood swinging come from the strain of having a husband
at war, or is it that she's simply a madwoman? We're never sure, and our
emotional investment depends on knowing. Much is made of the children's
photosensitivity, but it's a bizarre plot trait that adds nothing to
anything.
A couple of the film's mysteries become clear
when we get to the ending, which is actually pretty clever. But it's a long
slog to get there, and during "The Others" I actually attempted to have a
nap. Darn uncomfortable cinema seats kept me awake.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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