Nicole Kidman is a mother of two children living in Jersey in 1945. The family begin to hear strange noises and see odd things in their large old house. They are joined by a new housekeeper, a gardener and a mute girl, and the inexplicable happenings become more frequent. It’s difficult to say more without spoil the film, which all hinges on one massive plot twist.
Kidman is superb as a woman on the edge, driven by love for her children and a profound sense of loss after her husband failed to return from the war. Fionnula Flanagan is perfect as the housekeeper Bertha Mills – an initially reassuring and later fairly unsettling presence. The suspense is built up expertly, with added tension coming from the reactions of the children to the way events unfold.
Music by writer/director Alejandro Amenábar adds to the sense of threat, and the uncanny atmosphere – big, dark echoing spaces, the persistently swirling mist outside – is sustained well.
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