We Will Never Leave This House

Rating: 8/10 (18 April 2005)

To a certain extent, one's enjoyment of THE OTHERS will depend on how quickly you recognize the major plot device on which the entire film turns. Once recognition sets in, how much you are able to further enjoy the film will then depend on how much you have become engaged by the characters--and it is here, really, that the film stumbles a bit, not so much through the way it is done but rather through the way the characters must be played in order for their behavior to make sense at the film's conclusion.
The premise, which seems deeply influenced by both Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW and the 1960s film version known as THE INNOCENTS, concerns a woman who resides with her two children in an isolated mansion following World War II. Her situation is dire: her husband is missing in action and presumed dead; her children suffer from a rare genetic disease that makes sunlight dangerous to them; her servants have departed in the night without a word of warning. The latter problem seems remedied by the arrival of new servants--but no sooner are they installed than odd happenings begin to occur. Is the woman going mad? Are the servants involved? Have intruders secretly entered the house? Or could it be--something unearthly? The cast is exceptionally good here, with Fionnula Flanagan as the newly arrived servant Mrs. Mills and children Alakina Mann and James Bentley giving remarkable performances. But the focus is on Nicole Kiddman as Grace, a role that Kiddman plays with a white-knuckled grip and considerable ferocity--so much so that it becomes extremely difficult to like, much less sympathize, with the character. In some respects, however, this is ultimately necessary for this extremely plot-driven film to have any significant impact, and in hindsight it is hard to imagine that the role could be played in any other way; still, hindsight does not allow you to engage fully with the character when you are in the midst of the film. It is a flaw, but it is an unavoidable one--and the film is so remarkably stylish that it largely overcomes both the anticipated plot-twist and Kiddman's necessarily ferocious performance.
The production values are first rate all the way down the line. Everything looks right, sounds right, feels right. But two items deserve special mention: the exceptional soundtrack, which was composed by director Alejandro Amenabar himself, and the stunning cinematography, which has tremendous visual texture and which neatly blends a fluidity of movement with a remarkably claustrophobic feel. If your tastes run to special effects and blood-spatter horror films, you are likely to disappointed, for there are none in THE OTHERS; Amenabar craftily creates tension more via what is suggested rather than shown, and doors left ajar and half-heard sounds are his devices of choice; it is all very subtle and yet remarkably chilling.
The DVD package is a double-disk set, with the film on one disk and bonuses on the other. Although the bonuses are often quite interesting--particularly a documentary on individuals who actually suffer from hyper-sensitively to sunlight--they actually contribute little to the film itself, and it is a bit surprising that such a small bonus package would require a second disk. The sound for the feature is also problematic re home viewing, and I recommend that viewers play it at top volume, for there is no middle ground--everything is very quiet or very loud, and the contrast adds tremendously to the film's effect.
It is extremely difficult to know how to rate this film, for as I've noted the very nature of the story has two embedded flaws: the almost inevitable recognition of the major plot device and the necessity of Kiddman's over-the-top performance. But even though I recognized the nature of the plot device very early in the film, and even though I found "Grace" an unlikeable woman, this did not actually prevent me from feeling the icy breath with which director Amenabar endows THE OTHERS. Eight stars out of Ten.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer