Cast: Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, Fionnula Flanagan, Elaine Cassidy, Eric Sykes, Alakina Mann, James Bentley
Director: Alejandro Amenabar
Producers: Fernando Bovaira, José Luis Cuerda, Park Sunmin
Screenplay: Alejandro Amenabar
Cinematography: Javier Aguirresarobe
Music: Alejandro Amenabar
U.S. Distributor: Dimension Films
It's atmospheric, stylish, and spooky. The plot is well thought-out and its secrets and mysteries are unveiled slowly. Unfortunately, it is also cold, distancing, and moves at a glacial pace. The Others, a somewhat artsy ghost story, is the English-language debut of Spaniard Alejandro Amenabar, whose Open Your Eyes was one of the most thought-provoking movies to hit these shores in 1998 (and has been re-made by Cameron Crowe as Vanilla Sky). The Others features many of the same stylistic flourishes that marked Open Your Eyes and Amenabar's debut, Thesis. Yet the story progresses so slowly that it threatens to lull the viewer to sleep. (Those drifting off won't stay out for long - one of many "scare" moments will jerk them back to wakefulness.)
The film transpires on the island of Jersey, just after the conclusion of World War II. Grace (Nicole Kidman) lives alone in a large mansion with her two children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley). One day, three strangers arrive at her doorway - Mrs. Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), Lydia (Elaine Cassidy), and Mr. Tuttle (Eric Sykes). They are looking for employment, and, as luck would have it, Grace's servants have recently departed. But Grace's immense home is not an ordinary place in which to live. Her children are afflicted with a photosensitive allergy - bright light causes them to break out in sores that can be fatal, so the drapes are always drawn and the rooms are kept in near-darkness. There has been no word of Grace's husband since he went off to war. And the children are beginning to see things - strange, spectral images.
The Others is one of those films where the atmosphere is so strong you can almost feel it - not necessarily a bad thing for a haunted house movie. Amenabar makes good use of shadows during the indoor scenes, and there is one eerily effective outdoor sequence where Grace seems to merge into the mists surrounding her. Sound is also an important part of the overall sensory palette - distant screams, a piano playing, the ominous approach of footsteps. There's no denying that there are times when The Others is capable of raising one's nape hairs. Some have compared The Others to The Sixth Sense, but, aside from the fact that both movies have a patient approach to similar subject matter, they're not that much alike. A better comparison is to 1995's Haunted, a small British feature starring Aidan Quinn and Kate Beckinsale.
Nicole Kidman is asked to carry the movie. It's a solid performance, but not the actresses' best work. The camera loves her, framing her like a '40s movie star, but there are times when she's too cool and other instances when she lapses into histrionics. (Understandable, perhaps, given some of the ripe dialogue she is forced to utter.) The rest of the cast, comprised primarily of character actors (including Christopher Eccleston as Grace's husband and Fionnula Flanagan as the housekeeper, Mrs. Mills), provides strong support.
Although the story is interesting, it's not involving. There's a lack of energy in the proceedings that not even an intriguing twist and a surprise finale can overcome. (It's possible to guess The Others' secret, but that won't ruin the experience for the clever viewer.) Amenabar's frosty storytelling approach, which worked to good effect in Open Your Eyes, distances us from the characters and their situations, making us feel like we're watching some sort of surreal nightmare unfolding in slow motion. It's like sitting around a campfire, listening to someone tell a ghost story in a monotone.
© 2001 James Berardinelli