Boring, not breathtaking

Rating: 4/10 (6 October 2001)

In spite of the outstanding performances of Fionnula Flanagan ("Waking Ned Devine") and Nicole Kidman (one bad movie after another), the film dragged.
Amenábar developed the characters and setting quite early in the film with the "light-allergic" children reciting catechism and clutching a rosary at the direction of their fixated mother who practices psychological denial as effectively as her martyred saints who refused to deny their Christianity.
So why did the audience have to wait so long for any suspense? For what did I need patience? The trite ending?
Nevertheless, I still await an appropriate vehicle for Kidman, and I am eager to see James Bentley again. The child is perfectly Dickensian.