Desire Avenue

I'm having a lazy Sunday, re-watching some favourites from my DVD collection. I don't know how many times I've seen this film now, but it never fails to enchant me. Alejandro Amenabar created something quite magical with this picture.

I haven't read any interviews with him about it, but I'd be amazed if he wasn't influenced greatly by a brilliant British film from the early 60s, 'The Innocents'. Similar premise - lonely woman who may be mentally unstable, in charge of two children who may be communicating with ghosts, in a grand isolated house in the country. Amenabar does a fantastic job of creating something with an equivalent atmosphere, beautiful and tragic and sinister at the same time.

Nicole Kidman is great as the brittle Deborah Kerr figure, and the children playing the roles of Ann and Nicolas are superb. Kudos too to old hands Fionnula Flanagan and Eric Sykes as the servants who know more than they appear to about exactly what is happening in the house.

Such a wonderful picture.

blue wrote:Such a wonderful picture.

"The Others' is probably my favourite 'supernatural' style film.
I just love the 'old fashioned' approach of the film and its far more creepy than any number of the so-called 'horror' films.

One interesting part of the dvd is in the 'extras' where there is an opportunity to view and compare original filmed outside shots with how they actually appear on-screen having been processed.

Its amazing the difference the processing makes and just shows what incredible vision the director has to visualise how everything was going to look in the end.

Its definately in my top 10 films of all time.

RobB wrote:

blue wrote:Such a wonderful picture.

"The Others' is probably my favourite 'supernatural' style film.
I just love the 'old fashioned' approach of the film and its far more creepy than any number of the so-called 'horror' films.

That 'old-fashioned' quality is brilliantly captured, it feels almost like a movie from the 1940s. The whole look of the film is a big part of its appeal, I think, and the way it harks back to a time when film-making didn't need to rely on the kind of overt language/action that's taken for granted by audiences now really makes it stand out.

RobB wrote:One interesting part of the dvd is in the 'extras' where there is an opportunity to view and compare original filmed outside shots with how they actually appear on-screen having been processed.

Its amazing the difference the processing makes and just shows what incredible vision the director has to visualise how everything was going to look in the end.

What's so amazing as well is that the end result doesn't look processed at all, it's fascinating to see how they do that.

I found the documentary about XP on the extras disc very informative also, a glimpse into the realities of life for children with the condition.

I love the analogy that Grace makes at one point in the film, about the house being like a ship, where the light must be contained like water. The film is full of striking visual and verbal imagery like that, it's really quite a feat of the imagination.

What I find so refreshing about the film is that its genuinely creepy without having to rely on CGI FX etc and that its all down to sound,the acting and the story.
Its a pity Hollywood don't make a few films like this.

Amenabar's score is hugely effective in that respect, too - the music contributes a great deal to the atmosphere.

I think the scene where Ann is possessed by the old woman is one of the creepiest things I've seen in a movie for a long time. Makes me shudder every time, that wrinkled old hand dancing the puppet around.

I'm curious to know if you figured out the twist first time, Rob? I got it at the point when Daddy came home from the war, but it's very cleverly done.

blue wrote:I think the scene where Ann is possessed by the old woman is one of the creepiest things I've seen in a movie for a long time.

Yes,that is very creepy isn't it?
Another 'jumpy' scene is when Grace has gone into the music room to investigate the sound of the piano playing and the door slams shut behinds her. So simple in execution but oh so effective.

blue wrote:I'm curious to know if you figured out the twist first time, Rob? I got it at the point when Daddy came home from the war, but it's very cleverly done.

To be honest its been sometime now since I first watched the film (although i've seen it a few times since) and so I can't quite remember when I worked out the twist. But I do recall remembering 'The Amazing Mr Blundon' whilst watching it and began to question who the ghosts really were.

I'm desperately trying not to contain any spoilers here.