to rank among the 5 best movies made in 2001

Rating: 10/10 (25 March 2005)

"And all the other voices said: change your mind, you're always wrong" (the Cure, Other Voices, Faith, 1981).
A few years ago, Alejandro Amenabar's third movie was prominent in the top 250 of IMDb. But today, it isn't there any more. That's really unfair. It largely deserved its place and to occupy it as long as possible.
After, "Tesis" (1996) and "Abre Los Ojos" (1997), Amenabar goes up a notch and signs with "the Others" (2001) a masterful masterpiece which refreshes fantastic cinema and breathes new life into the theme of the haunted house. He largely deserves his nickname of "new young prodigy of Spanish cinema". With Tom Cruise, partly responsible for the production, one could fear a strong Hollywood influence in Amenabar's opus. But fortunately, it's nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact, just like the great M Night Shyamalan, Alejandro Amenabar appears as a real author, on the fringe of the Hollywood industry and he's got enough character to let his style nurture. Let's hope he won't be crushed by the Hollywood machine. The movie was shot in Spain, with eventually a modest budget (17 millions of dollars) and it was a surprise to see it doing brilliantly a little everywhere in the world.
Amenabar had already ventured in the dreadful world of the snuff-movies with his debut movie "Tesis" and had succeeded in mixing several films genres in one cohesive narrative line with "Abre Los Ojos". But with "the Others", one didn't suspect a real ease in the "In Camera". It's a quite dramatic change of style and in the end a successful translation in the fantastic.
Amenabar's references are easy to guess. They're three cornerstones in fantastic cinema: "the Innocents" (1961), "the Haunting" (1963) and "the Sixth Sense" (1999). "The Others" can be considered as the meeting of these three opus. All the elements of the fantastic movie with Gothic nature are gathered and perfectly used. There's no shortage of examples: an austere mansion with a sinister architecture which hides a dark secret, big rooms half obscured, a mist which tends to thicken throughout the days, characters with sinister-looking faces. All these features blend themselves to create a nearly stifling universe. Moreover, Amenabar favors a calm and quite slow rhythm to play with the spectator's nerves as much as possible and we are entitled to real moments of fear. It is also interesting to write that a minimum of special effects is just enough for the director to maintain anxiety. He also weaves a more and more threatening atmosphere marked out by the progressive reversal of situation (in the beginning of the film, Nicole Kidman dominated Fionnula Flanagan but in the middle of the film, it's the contrary which happens). And, of course, like in a successful suspense movie, virtually all the obscure or ambiguous points are clarified making the story incredibly coherent and after the final conclusion (which of course, I won't reveal), the very last sequences have a strong emotional power and it would take a heart of stone to resist them. On another extent, let's also take down the omnipresence of religion, supposed to be a sort of protection for Nicole Kidman but which, in the end turns out to be useless. One can put forward that Amenabar had surely a strong catholic education and he must have lost his faith...
But the qualities of "the Others" don't stop here. It is visually and technically an appealing movie with a gorgeous photography (certain images are breathtaking) and there's also a careful work on sound and the original soundtrack. On of the most important characteristics from Alejandro Amenabar is that he composes the music of his own films and her, very simply, he excels himself. The delicate and disturbing sounds we can hear contribute to reinforce the threatening atmosphere of the film and makes us feel a little more ill-at-ease again.
"The Others" was released when Nicole Kidman had just divorced Tom Cruise and I had thought that she gave the image of a more mature and ambitious actress. Amenabar's flick confirms it. One is really under the impression that she gives the best that she can. There's nothing to say about her role she takes with consummate skill. Her role of haughty middle-class housewife with a cold and penetrating look is sufficient to make one shudder. What is strange is that her name in the film is Grace and her hairstyle is reminiscent of Grace Kelly's. Is it a nod to the actress? Be that as it may, it would be unfair to forget the rest of the cast, especially Fionnula Flanagan who under a docile and frail appearance can easily become disturbing. At last, Amenabar made quite a creditable job of the directing of children who are, in general difficult actors to direct.
A chilling and great movie from start to finish. To fully savor all lights turned off. Highly recommended. Hats off to Mr Amenabar: he is one of the main leaders of Spanish cinema and his career is starting well as the triumph of "Mar Adentro" (2004) testifies.