A story of life and death

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2009)

What's life? What's death? And who are the others after all? The living or the dead? You will not find the answers to these questions in the movie though it deals with them somehow. This a very original movie in its kind I mean the ghost story movies kind. It has a few contact points with other movies involving ghosts and children like for instance "The Innocents" or "Shining" though maybe not so scary like the latter(nevertheless of course a bit scary anyway like any ghost story worth of its title). But it has the advantage of having a very surprising end that will leave you almost breathless though not exactly horrified since it's even somewhat poetical. The acting is great not only by Nicole Kidman as the main character but above all by the two children that do extraordinary performances. The interior scenery of the old mansion where the story takes place is quite convincing and very much fit to the general atmosphere of the plot. A good movie indeed though not exactly a masterpiece because the story doesn't give great occasion to that classification in all its details since in these stories that mix natural with supernatural it's always difficult to make things logical and illogical at same time.