Amenabar and Kidman concoct intelligent, scary entertainment

Rating: 8/10 (27 November 2002)

This is the most intelligent and scary film since Kubrick made "The Shining" and Hitchcock made his humorous murder thrillers. Like Hitchcock, Amenabar is able to make you laugh at yourself at the end of the scary film--while Kubrick could only made you sigh with relief at the end of his intelligent work.
This is my first Amenabar film. The early scene of Kidman's screaming face switching from the vertical to the horizontal gives you a clue of what will follow--intelligent viewing, constantly requiring the viewer to re-evaluate earlier impressions. This is mature cinema. This is the stuff John Berger would love to include in his "Ways of Seeing" if he were to re-write the book.
It is not without reason that in the DVD interview Amenabar says that he was most impressed by Kidman's eyes. It appears to be a frivolous comment. Yet Kidman's eyes are not only providing the impression of being terrorized or her character's steady descent from normality to lunacy, but they become the central sensory organ to a film in which light and darkness assume unusual importance.
Amenabar is the Svengali. For a young director it is impressive to see the director working on his own story and composing his own music, to be able to get such topnotch performances from Kidman, Flanagan, Sykes, and the kids. Watching this film reminds you of Orson Welles' cinema, though Welles would have loved to be in front of the camera as well.
The way Amenabar has crafted the story is so intelligent that you cannot help admiring how his story works backwards, with the end providing the pivotal point for the beginning of real entertainment and correct perspective. You begin to love the film after the movie ends--somewhat like the narrative structure of "The Usual Suspects." The prologue on the Creation, narrated by Kidman to the kids, would in retrospect be the appropriate epilogue. The film continues to entertain the viewer after the film has ended as the viewer is forced to pick up the clues thrown at the audience as the film progressed on the impending end.
This is a European film in style and far removed from Hollywood's predictable approach to mystery, supernatural, aliens, etc. This style is what makes the film outstanding in the genre--it provides entertainment by teasing your senses and perception of what is real. Even when dealing with a supernatural subject it exudes a pristine charm of children and Bible readings. As the film progresses you note that often initial elements of charm hides a not-so-innocent mind (Flanagan's character Bertha Mills, Kidman's character Grace, etc.).
Kidman is lovely to look at. Yet she is only truly impressive when a good director is in charge (first Kubrick in "Eyes Wide Shut", and now Amenabar).
The strengths of this film also lie in the art direction, sound editing (superb), and cinematography.
The film does leave holes in the story. What happens to the postman? What happens to the first batch of servants that preceded Bertha Mills et al.? Were the children really having a medical problem? What were the pills that Grace was having and what was Bertha giving her that Grace found suspicious? Probably these unanswered questions add to the richness of the film.
This is a major film of the decade because of the narrative structure, which would put off conventional viewers of Hollywood products. The special features of the DVD are below average (e.g., interview with cinematographer is in Spanish, some of the English interview snippets are pedantic) while the sound recording is top notch.