SUPERSTITION

UK, 2001, 95 minutes, Colour.
Mark Strong, Sienna Guilleroy, David Warner, Charlotte Rampling, Alice Kriger, Frances Barber, Derek Delint.
Directed by Kenneth Hope.

Superstition is an odd supernatural thriller. While most of the cast is British, the setting is Italy and the characters Italian.

The film focuses on a young girl who seems to have telekinetic powers involved in fire. It emerges that she has inherited this from her family. However, when a child is killed in the house burning down, she is accused of murder. The woman herself (Sienna Guilleroy) is confused. She is supported by her lawyer, Mark Strong (an actor on the British stage and a character actor in films, with powerful performances in such films as Revolver and as the assassin in Syriana). Charlotte Rampling appears as a psychologist nun – rather modern in style, except that the community is a touch old-fashioned. Alice Kriger and Derek Delint are the parents of the dead child, David Warner is the judge.

The film involves on-site testing of the girl’s powers, prison sequences, the court case itself, the interrogations by authorities, the discussions with the psychologist nun.

The film is intriguing in its way – but a bit too British to be effective as an Italian story.

1.A supernatural thriller? Murder story? Court case?

2.The Italian settings, the mansions, the castles, the Italian countryside? The courts? The musical score?

3.The title, the reference to telekinetic powers, arsonist telekinetic powers? The focus on Julie? Her background, her family, her parents? The flashbacks? Sufficient explanation for her behaviour?

4.Julie, her age, in herself, a nanny, with the child, the death of the child? The parents, their support of her, their turning against her? Her imprisonment, the charges?

5.Antonio, her lawyer, his personality, his work, skills? His interviews with her, his puzzles, interviews with the witnesses? His believing in her? His experiences of her powers? Retracing the past? His involvement with her? Behaviour in court? The finale – vindicated or not?

6.Charlotte Rampling as the psychologist nun? Her reputation, Antonio going to visit her, their discussions? The contemporary nun, her professional work? Life in the convent? The superior? The habit, not wearing the habit? Her ease in her professional work? Meeting Julie? The discussions with Antonio? Her conclusions?

7.The parents, their love for their child, their reaction against Julie? The husband and his eye on Julie? The tension?

8.The judge? His behaviour in the court, judgments?

9.The background characters? The Italian court, the people in the town, suspicions?

10.A satisfying or unsatisfactory look at a strange problem? Psychological? Supernatural?