ELOISE
US, 2017, 89 minutes, Colour.
Chace Crawford, Eliza Duschku, Brandon T.Jackson, P.J.Byrne, Robert Patrick, Nicole Forrester.
Directed by Robert Legato.
Eloise is definitely a film that should be seen in a darkened cinema, to maintain a sense of tension, of fear and apprehension. If watched on a television screen with some light, it loses its atmosphere.
Eloise is the title of a mental institution in Michigan. The screenplay introduces a rather sinister history, especially with its expert, Dr Greiss, Robert Patrick with memories of Terminator 2. He believes that patients should confront their fears and not coddle them. There are some very grim scenes where patients are trapped with the creatures that they fear, even a cage over their head, trapped with spiders and other creatures.
At the centre of the film is Jacob, Chace Crawford very much a lookalike for Paul Walker here, who hears that his father has killed himself but has left him a great deal of property investment – but he must verify that his aunt, a patient in Eloise, is dead. He is joined by his friend from juvenile detention, Dell (Brandon T. Jackson), a friend but not really trustworthy. They have both encountered a young woman at a bar, Pia, Eliza Dushku, who turns out to be the sister of the young man they find on the Internet who has an expertise, more than obsessive, about Eloise.
The bulk of the film is the four of them going in the dark into the many buildings that comprise Eloise, the interiors becoming more and more sinister, having a destructive effect on each of them. They also begin to hallucinate, enter into the life of Eloise in the past, ultimately Jacob finding his aunt who turns out to be his mother (and the severe doctor his father). There is some time travel in reality or imagination, where the baby is delivered to the mother’s brother, Jacob’s father as he thought, and Jacob sets fire to Eloise.
There is no real happy ending at all, Jacob seemed to be trapped in his fear of claustrophobia, of being buried alive. Pia has a fear of injections – but is seen at the beginning and the end of the film being interviewed by a detective concerning what happened.
Quite effective in its way – rather difficult to explain Jacob’s presence in the different time phases.
1. A psychological thriller? The focus on a mental institution? The patients, the severe treatment?
2. The title, the young woman giving her name to the institution? The history of the institution, the patients, Dr Greiss’ theories and experimentation, the staff, the patients, the treatment? Confronting fears rather than coddling them?
3. The visuals of the institution, massive exteriors, the interiors, rooms, cells, surgery? The institution at night? Vast, the range of corridors, staircases, rooms, record rooms? The contrast with Jacob and his ordinary life, home, the information about his father’s death?
4. The introduction, the clips during the opening credits, black and white, sepia, then colour? The range of patients? Dr Greiss and his personality, treatment? Sinister atmosphere? The history, reputation, the fire and destruction? The remaining buildings? The office and reception?
5. Jacob, juvenile detention, bad relationship with his father, making sense in the light of the revelations of the screenplay? His father killing himself, the will and testament, land investment, the revelation about the aunt, the need to have her death certificate? His friendship with Dell? Their chatter, possibilities with the money for the future? The decision to go to Eloise, the receptionist, her filling out the form about his claustrophobia?
6. The research, on-line, discovering Scott, going to visit him?
7. The scenes in the diner, drinks, drinks for the birthday, Pia and the discussions? The surprise to find Pia with Scott? The explanation of her background and looking after him?
8. Scott, personality, obsessive, his vast collection? Mental age? The decision to help, his map? The plan and their invasion of Eloise?
9. The dark, the eerie atmosphere, the sense of tension, going through the various buildings, the atmosphere, the torches, Scott and his leading? Going through the various buildings? Scott, venturing on his own, stealing the ashes, their spilling? His camera and the eerie colours? The group beginning to imagine and see things? Scott and his falling through the holes in the floors, his being taken over for experiments, the removal of his eye?
10. Jacob, the bond with Pia, the searching, eventually finding the documentation, the information about his aunt, her pregnancy and death? The concern about Scott, going to find him, the beginning of the apparitions, Pia seeing the girl in red, Jacob and the various patients, the doctors? Life in Eloise? The pursuits, having to avoid the doctors and staff?
11. Dell, light fingered, his taking Jacob’s watch? going with the plan, wary about Scott, Scott touching him? Search, his finding the drugs, taking them, the effect? Hallucinations, seeing people, the gun, firing? His being pursued, the luminous cross, his being destroyed and trapped in the water?
12. The complexities the plot, time travel, Jacob seeing his aunt, discovering that she was his mother, his telling her the name? Seeing the baby taken, the nurse putting it in a box? Sending it to his nominal father? The behaviour of Dr Greiss? His father and the baby? Making sense of what it happened in Jacob’s life?
13. The television interviews with Dr Greiss, his explanations of confronting fears, his examples, his ruthlessness? His trapping Pia, her fear of injections, the multiple injections, getting free, getting the boxes the baby, Pia giving it to the little girl who gave it to Jacob’s nominal father? The contrast with Jacob, claustrophobia, fear of being buried alive, his imagination, fantasy, time travel – and setting fire to Eloise, and his return to the coffin?
14. The audience having seen the detective and his interview with Pia, the return to that sequence – the story, real or imagined?
