Fragile

*Sources of the article vary.*
**Fragile** (Spanish: Frágiles) is a 2005 Spanish-British horror film directed by Jaume Balagueró. The film premiered on 2 September 2005 as part of the Venice Film Festival and was released in a theatrical release in Spain on 14 October 2005. The movie has had several release dates around the world since its original release in October 2005. Lightning Media released the film in July 2010 via DVD, Video on Demand and Digital Download. Fragile is also part of the Fangoria FrightFest 2010 on 21 June 2010. It also received the Goya Award for Best Special Effects.

## Plot

The relationship between a nurse and a child can be a child’s only hope when experiencing the loneliness of being in a hospital, and dealing with the pain of a deadly illness. When the nurse becomes overly obsessed with the patient, she will go to any means necessary to prevent losing that bond with the child. This scenario is the case in Jaume Balaguero’s thriller “Fragile,” where a young woman must solve the mystery of a haunted hospital before her patients fall victim to a deadly ghost.

## Synopsis

“Fragile” begins in drama when a young boy, Simon, awakens in pain, and is taken immediately to get X-rays. The doctors are baffled when they notice his femur is fractured, and while the X-ray is being taken, another bone is broken by itself leaving the mystery open. The film shifts to the introduction of the new night nurse, Amy Nicholls (Calista Flockhart) She is picked up by another worker from Mercy Falls Hospital, Roy (Colin McFarlane), and is shown around to her new place of work as the third shifter. She also meets the second shift nurse, Helen Perez (Elena Anaya), who introduces her to the last eight child patients the hospital still has.

Amy is immediately drawn to the reclusive patient, Maggie Reynolds (Yasmin Murphy), who claims to be able to talk to a mechanical girl named Charlotte. When Helen advises Amy to shrug off Maggie’s claims, she begins her shift at the hospital plagued with creepy happenings as hearing disembodied voices and bangs around the hospital. The next day, Amy meets the night doctor, Dr. Robert Kerry(Richard Roxburgh), who also is supportive to the freaked out Amy. Strange things pursue as Simon and Amy mysteriously get stuck on the elevator, and she questions Dr. Kerry on the whereabouts of the last night nurse and Maggie’s problems with cystic fibrosis.

Being a curious young woman, Amy takes it on herself to solve the mysteries of the hospital, as what happened to the last night nurse, Susan (Susie Trayling), and what is on the abandoned floor that is adorned with old tattered drapes and toys. Amy forms a relationship with Maggie, and finds that Maggie is the only other person that notices the creepy happenings in the hospital. After seeing more haunted happenings as an outline of a ghostly human being, Amy tries to confide in Dr. Kerry, but he shrugs her off thinking she is being overprotective of the kids and not over what happened in her prior job.

When things continue to get rough at the hospital, Amy goes out to meet with people that Susan met with (Father Tom and The Psychics), the answers start to come out about the true problems at the hospital pertain to a deadly ghost. Roy is quickly killed off after seeing a ghost wearing orthopedic braces from head to toe, and Amy returns to the hospital knowing that she must find a way to protect the children from the spirit that won’t rest, and she finally finds out the true background of the mechanical girl in a shocking twist with a thrilling end.

Amy finally learns why the upstairs ward is closed. The nurse caring for the little girl had become obsessed with her. When the treatments began to work and the child improved, she'd begun to purposely break the girl's bones and eventually murdered the child. She then put on the child's metal frame and killed herself. Robert shows Amy a file he found which proves that "Mandy" is the child's name and "Charlotte" is the obsessed nurse. Amy realizes that Charlotte wants the children. This story is further revealed by Dr. Folder.

The hospital starts falling apart because of Charlotte's rage as the staff desperately try to evacuate the children. As help arrives, Amy realizes that everything is suddenly calm, and Mrs. Folder says that Maggie is missing. Amy realises that Maggie went to get her 'Mr. Sleepy' and runs to the abandoned ward. Weak and exhausted, Maggie is in Mandy's old room. Despite Charlotte's presence, Amy determinedly picks up Maggie and tries to reach the trapdoor but Charlotte causes the floor to destabilise and Amy's leg is impaled by a piece of metal, causing major bleeding. As the two escape the second floor by jumping through the trapdoor, Maggie succumbs to her illness and stops breathing. Despite Amy's desperate attempts, the little girl dies in her arms. Amy then also collapses from blood loss.

Robert futilely tries to revive her but Amy's heart stops beating. As the medical team step back, we see Maggie's ghost give Amy a pure love kiss and Amy begins to breathe again. The movie ends as Amy wakes up in St. James Hospital with Robert at her side. An elderly dying person who passes by the door sees Maggie's smiling ghost sitting by Amy's bedside- staying close to what she loved best in life.

## Cast

* Calista Flockhart as Amy Nicholls
* Richard Roxburgh as Robert Kerry
* Elena Anaya as Helen Perez
* Gemma Jones as Mrs./Dr. Folder
* Yasmin Murphy as Maggie Reynolds
* Colin McFarlane as Roy
* Michael Pennington as Dr. Marcus
* Daniel Ortiz asMatt
* Susie Trayling as Susan
* Karmeta Cervera as Charlotte Rivers
* Ivana Baquero as Mandy Phillips
* Lloyd F. Booth Shankley asSimon
* Michael Gatward as David
* Scarlet Carey as Emma
* Cameron Antrobus as Jimmy
* Olivia Bjork asLinda
* Fergus Riordan as Richard
* Arthur Rogers as Nicholas
* Freda Dowie and Matyelok Gibbs as The Psychics
* Geoffrey Beevers as Father Tom
* Lavinia Bertram as Susan's Mother
* Max Batista as Adam

## Impact

“Fragile” is a paranormal thriller that keeps the viewer guessing to the very end. Flockhart’s performance of a disturbed nurse saving the lives of the sick children is dead on, and really draws the viewer into the film. The paranormal activity that occurs is very eerie, and the hospital that the film is set in is an older style sanitarium that is creepy in itself. The spirit is adorned in orthopedic braces, and eye lids are stretched giving her a scary permanent visual.

## Production

It was filmed between Barcelona, Spain and the Isle of Wight, England. The exterior scenes of the hospital were filmed at Bearwood College in Berkshire, England.

The Sleeping Beauty animation short seen on the projector was created specifically for this movie.