DARK PLACES
US, 2015, 113 minutes, Colour.
Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Christina Hendricks, Chloe Grace Moretz, Tye Sheridan, Sean Bridgers.
Directed by Gilles Pacquet- Brenner.
Dark Places is a very interesting film which did not receive as much release as might have been expected given the fact that Charlize Theron is the star.
This is very similar to one of those true crime stories, echoes of such investigative films as In Cold Blood. The setting of the crime is Kansas in 1986 the killing of a woman in her house and the death of two of her daughters. Her older son, Ben, Tye Sheridan, is considered strange and he is blamed for the killings and imprisoned for 28 years. The youngest daughter, Libby, who survived has grown up, Charlize Theron as the older Libby, has had a ghost-written story of the crime published but has fallen on hard times.
She is approached by an earnest young man, Nicholas Hoult, who invites her to a meeting of a group in his house, ardent fans of true crime, including some lawyers and police investigators. One of the members does not believe that the brother was guilty of the crimes. Libby, needing the money, is persuaded to spend some weeks helping them investigate the case.
This leads her to visit her brother Corey Stoll, in prison for the first time and hear his side of the story. This raises some doubts, and takes her to further leads, including finding the father who had abandoned his family, a young woman who is a girl had accused her brother of sexual molestation and who now works as a stripper, as well as finding the woman who used to be her brother’s girlfriend.
The film is not quite as straightforward as might have been expected, some extra information coming up concerning the behaviour of the mother, a sympathetic performance from Christina Hendricks, her love for her farm, financial difficulties, and desperate need to provide for her children. More information surfaces about the brother, his volunteer work, his fascination with satanic rituals, including a mad slashing of cattle, the accusations about sexual molestation, his relationship with the young girl from school and their presence in the house at the time of the killings.
Audiences will find the characters and their complexities continually interesting and will be fascinated by the twists in the plot which they may well not have been anticipating.
1. Crime story, investigation? The work of Gillian Flynn?
2. 1986, Kansas, the black-and-white sequences, the final moments before the murder? The colour flashbacks, the house, the interiors, the farm work in the fields, the open roads? The clubs and bars, the satanic rituals?
3. The present, the city, laundromat, drab apartments, strip clubs, the prison, homes? Musical score?
4. The title, the reference to crime, satanic rituals, dark places in human nature, in individuals, in Ben, in Libby?
5. The gradual revelation of the twists? Seeing the crime, the mother’s death, the children, the assumption that Ben did the murders, to be interrogated by the police, going to court, his being found guilty? Scenes of Ben at home, his hair, the table, going to see his friends, posters in his room, the satanic ritual, the relationship with Diondra, sexual, her pregnancy, the cult ritual, the massacre of the cattle? The plan, the escape, Michelle and her gossip at school? The deaths?
6. Ben, 28 years in prison, his appearance, not making any appeal, the tattoos, the name of Polly, his silence? Libby’s visit? The tension between them? Her not visiting for 28 years? The discussion about the yellow horse, the need of each to relate as brother and sister?
7. Libby as an adult, tough, growing up, hard life, writing the book, the income? The financier and his warning her of the dire situation? The letter from Lyle, going to talk with him, going to the meeting, the money, the strange crowd there, eccentrics and preoccupation about 86 record low interest rates/I crime, the woman fighting for Ben’s innocence, the former legal and police personnel and the maps and investigations? Lyle offering her work, money, her agreement? Going to the prison, discussions with Ben, the effect on her? Phone calls, information from Ben, discovery of the accusations about his sexual molestation, the name of the girl, going to the bar with Lyle, the stripper, the money, and her paying it back, and the explanation of the lies that she told? Diondra missing for 28 years, tracking her down, the clues, finding her with her daughter, their expecting her, in the bathroom, finding her mother’s necklace, their attacking her, the basement, her escape, rescue by Lyle?
8. The effect of this experience on her, going to see Ben again, the truth, his silence about the reasons? But never having seen his daughter? Wondering whether she was bad like her mother?
9. The flashback to Ben, his voluntary work, the girls, flirting, the kiss, the parents, the lies, the police? The girl growing up and becoming a stripper?
10. Diondra, the truth, the flashback and deeing her strangling Michelle? Telling the truth to her daughter, their both attacking Libby?
11. The portrait of the mother, doing her best, for her children, her husband abandoning her, a wastrel, his turning up with doughnuts for the children, but wanting her money, not believing she didn’t have money? Her desperation, having to sell the equipment, the visitor and his contract, her signing it? The pact, her writing the letter to her children, her being killed, saying she loved Libby? The twist with the role of the serial killer and his arrest and exposure? The death of the daughter, being shot, and Diondra killing Michelle?
12. The portrait of the father, in the past, money, betting, the Indian and his debts, selling drugs, drinking? The confrontation with his wife, taking the money? Libby tracking him down, talking with him, the truth?
13. The film’s venturing into dark places and exploring human nature?
