PREMONITION
US, 2007, 97 minutes, Colour.
Sandra Bullock, Julian Mc Mahon, Nia Long, Kate Nelligan, Amber Valletta, Peter Stormare.
Directed by Mennan Yapo.
We all know what a premonition is, a sense of the future and, generally, a dread of what will or could happen. There are plenty of premonitions here. And it is a challenge to the audience to try to work out what is premonition and what is real in the experiences of Linda Hanson (Sandra Bullock). She is married with two daughters, has a husband with a good job, a comfortable house, friends and a congenial way of life that has become routine. When she wakes up one day and is informed by police that her husband has been killed in a car accident, she is grief-stricken, trying to console her daughters.
The only (only!) trouble is that she wakes up next day to find her husband is downstairs having breakfast – nothing has happened.
Then she wakes up again and he is dead again… and then…
So, what is real and what is premonition? Even though Linda does a diagram trying to work out what is the chronological order to her experiences, it is not easy to come up with a clear and logical synopsis of what has happened – and what is about to happen in the following week.
Now we know where we stand, but are still confused as to what is happening around this point. We see Linda going to a psychiatrist and getting medication that she had previously found mysteriously in her bathroom cabinet. We see the funeral and her mother’s care for her as well as the presence of her husband’s business associate. Then she meets the assistant in real life. Her older daughter’s face is disfigured with cuts – and is then healed. How and when did this happen?
Eventually, the fatal day built up from the premonitions of death arrives and Linda intervenes to change what might happen. Can she? Does she? Is there a happy Hollywood ending as expected? Should there be?
This is a Sandra Bullock vehicle. We see her as the ordinary housewife and mother which makes her dreams more strange but plausible. She is a strong screen presence and keeps us involved in her bewildering premonitions and reality. Her husband is played by a suavely suburban Julian Mc Mahon.
This is a PG thriller, avoiding the problems of explicit language, sexuality and violence, so that most audiences can become involved and experience the suspense and general eeriness of such premonition happenings.
1.The impact of the film? Eerie, suspense? Domestic thriller? Audiences identifying with characters and situations?
2.The Shreveport locations, the city, the suburbs, homes and offices, the highway? The musical score and its moods?
3.The title, the meaning of premonitions, the phenomenon, common experience or not, the experience of foreboding, the effect? The difference between dream and reality?
4.Credibility and plausibility of the plot, Linda and her way of life, the pressures? The visualising of her premonitions, the bases, the experience, the effect on her? Talking about them? Trying to sort out what was real and what was premonition? The doctor, the drugs, her being taken to the institution? Her fears? The possibility of changing the future or not? Her ultimately being responsible for what happened, especially Jim’s death?
5.The prologue, Linda and Jim, young, the surprise of the house, buying it, their hopes, ours? The marriage sequence? Their daughters, the happy lifestyle?
6.Linda and her life, the ordinariness, the routines, washing, the washing on the line, waking up, breakfast, her daughters, driving them to school? Her concerns? At home, the work, the phone message from Jim, her puzzle, the arrival of the police, information about his death, the consequences?
7.Her grief, explaining the death to her daughters? Her mother coming to look after her? Having to cope, the arrangements, the funeral? The visualising of the funeral itself, her seeing the hearse, wanting to open the coffin, the decapitated body falling out? At the graveside, the prayer, seeing Claire in the distance, Linda accosting her, Claire expressing her sympathy?
8.Linda waking up, Jim downstairs, everything as normal, the breakfast and watching television? Yet the tensions in their life? His love for the daughters, kissing them goodbye, not kissing Linda? The outings, taking the children to the zoo? The glass door, her putting the stickers on it – and yet Bridget crashing through it and injuring herself, the hospital, Jim coming to the hospital, her recovery? Linda visiting the office, meeting Claire and being suspicious of her? The night before the death, Linda getting Jim to declare his love for his children, for herself, the children and the extra hug? The night together – and the final image of her pregnancy?
9.Linda waking, her husband dead again, her mother explaining this, finding the tablets, the doctor’s name, searching for the phone book, the page torn out, going to the doctor, the visit and the strangeness? The prescription? Later going to him, the interview, her explaining what had happened? The aftermath of the funeral, her waking up, pyjamas, everybody concerned, Annie and her mother, her being taken away and kept in custody?
10.Anne as her friend, the phone calls, their talk, the help, the funeral?
11.Her mother, her love for her daughter, coming to stay, caring for her, the aftermath of the death, at the funeral?
12.Linda’s love for her daughters, taking them to school, her concern, the traffic warden and her urging her on? Seeing them play, Bridget on the swing and her disfigured face? The episode of the rain, the washing, Bridget running through the glass?
13.Jim, in himself, love for Linda, busy at work, the routines, taking the girls out, taking Linda for granted, working with Claire, seeing her at the office, the entanglement, Claire at the hotel waiting for him, his phone call to call off the meeting?
14.The doctor, odd, manner of speaking, the prescription, the session?
15.Linda putting all the days in order, trying to work out what was real and what was premonition? The build-up to Wednesday? Her being careful? Jim and Claire? The phone call, driving behind him, changing the future, getting him to pull over? The sign of 220 miles and her previous visit? Jim turning, the car stalling, the truck exploding – just as the policeman had said?
16.Linda and her going to the priest, the discussion, her loss of faith and prayer, his listening, his advice, the focus on hope and her remembering this at the end?
17.Linda’s grief, her hope, the children, standing up and her being pregnant?
18.The suspense and eeriness for the audience? The generally low-key presentation, relying on character, situation and suspense?
