Moody and Brooding

Rating: 7/10 (24 August 2001)

Movie Review: The Others (2001)
Towards the end of World War II, Grace (Nicole Kidman) lives in a mansion near the English Coast with her two children Anne and Nicholas (Alakina Mann, James Bentley) where they are waiting for her husband Charles (Christopher Eccleston) to come back home from the war.
Grace is unbearably religious and does not believe in nonsense like ghosts which her independently minded daughter Anne likes to talk about, claiming to have seen and spoken with them.
Anne and her brother Nicholas have an allergy to light; so the curtains must be drawn and doors must be closed and locked before the next one is opened, to keep the light out because the light will hurt the children; beautiful, pale sad children.
There are no great special effects in this movie, it is very slow and i do not recommend it for those who need action. Most of the time i need action and i do wish this movie had more movement to it, but i still enjoyed it. It is a moody and broody movie. It is wonderfully heavy on atmosphere. And It has a story.
All the servants have disappeared into thin air and replacing those servants are Fionnula Flanagan as Mrs. Mills, Elaine Cassidy as Lydia, and Eric Sykes as Mr. Tuttle. They play the housekeeper, the nanny and the gardener. But one quickly learns they are not what they seem. Why do they return to this house? What are their motives?
Soon after the arrival of the servants Grace begins to hear noises and to sense something diabolical is living in her home. Is Grace imagining these things? Is Anne creating these effects in order to gain attention? Are the servants trying to undo her in order to take control of her home and to hurt her children?
Grace despite her rigidness and strictness has a vulnerability to her. Maybe too much vulnerability since according to her daughter she has once suffered madness. Nicole Kidman plays her perfectly. She can express feelings and thoughts with a mere look.
All are perfect in their parts; and the dialogue is excellent in it's poetic feel. This movie is not a special effects movie, it is a movie which takes place in your imagination. It's a movie of feeling.