THE UNINVITED
US, 2009, 97 minutes, Colour.
Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel, David Strathairn, Elizabeth Banks, Jesse Moss.
Directed by the Guard Brothers.
A rather neat little thriller, not in the chatty sense of neat meaning pretty good, although it is that, but neat in the sense that there are clues as to what is going on for those on the alert and they all come together very neatly by the final credits, no loose ends. It is a streamlined adaptation of a more elaborate Korean film, Two Sisters.
Anna, the teenage daughter of a successful writer (David Strathairn) has frightening dreams. She discusses them with her therapist at the institution where she has lived since the tragic death in a fire of her invalid mother. She is ready now to go back home. She finds her sister, Alex, and Rachel, the nurse who was employed to look after her mother and who now seems to be in charge of the house and has plans to marry her father.
Anna seems to settle in though she has some strange dreams and some accompanying odd behaviour. But, it is clear that she and her sister dislike Rachel intensely and are intent on unmasking her. Rachel seems nice but has her unpleasant moments with the girls. A young man who had made some advances on Anna at a beach party confides in her that he knows what really happened on the night of her mother's death.
The film moves quite briskly and is not overlong. The father is bewildered. The sister works in tandem with Anna to gain back the situation from Rachel. Rachel is shaping up as the wicked stepmother.
There is a twist which most, including the reviewer, did not see coming. And, as has been said, by the credits we realise that all the plot elements and clues have been explained.
The credibility of the plot depends on the performances of Emily Browning as the emotionally fragile Anna and Elizabeth Banks (appearing in many films these days) as Rachel. They are both effective and, in retrospect, so is the film and its mystery.
1.A satisfying thriller? Horror and terror elements?
2.The remake, the Korean original, this screenplay more streamlined and briefer? The clues all fairly given, all brought together at the end?
3.The New England setting, the woods, the water, the mansion, the guesthouse, the world of affluence? The house and its interiors? The mental institution? Seemingly realistic and its effect? For Anna’s point of view, for the audience point of view? The score?
4.The importance of dreams, the opening dream, Anna at the beach, the party, Matt and his advances, her resistance, going into the forest, her fears, finding the girl’s body? Her concern about her mother, the ringing of the bell? The later explanations about the bell and Alex’s comment, for Rachel? Making Rachel more sinister? Alex and her place in the dreams? Anna’s delusions? Matt and his back in the dream? Discussing the dreams with her therapist? His benign interpretation?
5.The psychiatrist, allowing Anna to leave, her saying that she finished what she had to do and was encouraged by him? The mad girl and her stories? The end, the girl’s identity, the pearls?
6.Anna and her mental state, audience sympathy for her, the grief at her mother’s death? Her mother’s bell? The horrendous fire? Her dislike for Rachel? Questioning Rachel’s identity, her background? Criticising her father? The meals, some compliance? Rachel hosting the dinner, her attacking the girls? Anna’s relationship to her father? The book and his dedication to his two daughters (a misleading clue for the audience)? Her discussions with Alex? Her discussions with Matt, seeing him in the boat, the deliveries, in town at the shop? The appointment with him? His not turning up, but appearing in her dream? The investigation of Rachel? Going to Matt’s funeral, going to the grave of the children? Discussions with the sheriff and his support? Suspicions? The lead to Rachel, to Alex?
7.Rachel and her age, presence in the house, in the photo, caring for the mother, her love of cooking, the hostess for the dinner, the issue of the roast and Anna knocking it to the floor after the can and the spilling of the juice – looking like blood? Rachel going shopping with Anna? Anna and the attack on Rachel, killing Rachel and disposing of the body?
8.The father, seeming sinister and unloving, his relationship with Rachel, love for Alex, the party, going to New York, the return to the disaster?
9.Alex and the other side of Anna, glamour, sexy, the issues of writing the letters and their not being sent? Suspicion of Rachel, her drinking, with the boys and partying? Her help with going to the rendezvous with Matt? The investigation of Rachel? Rachel injecting her? The truth that she had died in the fire? Audience response to this information?
10.The story of Mildred Kemp, the three children, the murder, Anna at their graves, following the girl in the forest? The research, the files, the photos, the infatuation of love, the pearls – and Rachel’s pearls? The irony of the institution, Mildred Kemp as the friend to whom she told stories and listened to stories?
11.Anna and the reality, the effect of her mother’s death, grief, mental state, hallucinations, the truth about her sister, her father, her jealousy of his relationship with Rachel, devotion to her mother, going to destroy the house, the gasoline, the flames, Alex and the accidental explosion, Alex’s death, the mother’s death? Her killing Matt, and the visualising of this because he had seen what had happened? Matt’s death?
12.How effective as a thriller and as a psychodrama?
