SHELTER
US, 2010, 112 minutes, Colour.
Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys- Myers, Jeffrey de Munn, Frances Conroy, Brooklynn Proulx, Nathan Cauddrey.
Directed by Mans Malind and Bjorn Stein.
Shelter has a very gentle sound about it. But, that is not the case for this psychological thriller which veers into what is often called 'supernatural' elements with some touches of horror. There have been a number of films about, like the 1997 Denzel Washington film, Fallen, where the souls of a person can migrate from one human carrier to another. The human carrier provides a shelter.
The film opens with a psychiatrist, Caroline, Julianne Moore, explaining to a committee hearing an appeal for a murderer to be granted a stay of execution that she does not believe in cases of multiple personalities – she says it is a feature of sensationalist Hollywood movies! When she gets home, her father, Jeffrey de Munn, whisks her off to meet his latest case. He is played very effectively by Jonathan Rhys Meyers – and she discovers that, if he doesn't have multiple personalities inside, then there do seem to be several people in there. And he displays quite different performances for each of them as well as mimicking the speaking manner of some of those sheltering.
So far, so familiar. However, God (who actually tops the list of those who are thanked explicitly in the final credits) becomes an important theme. Despite her husband having been brutally murdered by a mugger on the way home from church on Christmas eve, the psychiatrist still believes in God. Her young daughter and her father find they cannot. This becomes important in terms of who become carriers for the migrating soul. This all leads Caroline out into the Pennsylvania backwoods and strange communities with odd religious beliefs, bizarre practices and alleged witchcraft.
The visual style of the film is dark and brooding. It is directed by two Swedish directors – who certainly do not feel any obligation to provide a Hollywood ending.
Many reviewers dismissed Shelter as hokum. Of course, it is hokum, psychological and religious. But, despite critical opinion, some of us (this reviewer included) enjoy the speculations , twists and turns of this kind of hokum.
1. A psychological thriller? Religious thriller? Touches of horror? The combination of these elements?
2. The title, as explained by the people from the hills, the spirit passing from person to person? Taking shelter?
3. The opening, Missouri, Caroline and her assessment, the group of men listening? Her comments on multiple personalities, dismissing the idea? No diminished responsibility? The audience of legal people, the governor, no reprieve for the criminal, his execution, Caroline going to the bar to drink? Phone call to her brother, to Sammy?
4. The style of the film, muted colours, dark, the emphasis on close-ups and profiles? The musical score, atmosphere?
5. Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh? Stephen and the ugly neighbourhood? Homes, hospitals and institutions, school, soccer fields? The contrast with the mountains, with the woods? The isolated roads, the backwoods and the dilapidated homes?
6. Caroline and Sam, the murder of her husband, on the way home from church, her keeping her faith, her father and Sam losing their faith, her praying with Sam? The declarations of lack of faith in such a God? Caroline as a believer, happy with her faith? Stephen and his music, the technology?
7. Caroline’s father, the phone call, the case, going to the institution, the interview with David, the psychological questions and texts, his being confined to the wheelchair? An ordinary person? The phone call, the change, Adam emerging, Adam being the host to the different personalities? The contrast with David? The paralysis, the elongation of the neck, bending the head back? In the woods, Wes and his appearing?
8. David/Adam? The three different personalities, multiple personality? The transition from one to the other? The differences? The preacher and his appearance? Later taking on the personalities of Charles, the father, Sam?
9. Caroline and her theories, being asked about religion and science, having a doctorate in science, but being a woman of faith? Confrontation with multiple personalities? Theories of disassociation rather than delusions?
10. The encounters with the young man, her continuing the investigations, tracking down David in the college year books, going to visit his mother? The years of his achievement, sport, the accident, going to the woods, the Satanists, the newspaper reports, his mother saying he was murdered? Her meeting David, her disbelief, the nail in her pocket, upset, reacting against him? Caroline’s second visit, the question about the music and the song?
11. Caroline investigating Adam, going to the house, decaying, finding the corpse? In the woods with David, the site of his alleged murder? Wes emerging? The flashbacks to Wes, the accident?
12. Caroline’s father, psychiatrist, his interest in personalities, the patients, playing ball with them? Testing Caroline? The rivalry?
13. The videos, the footage of David, Adam? The black colour, Stephen finding the sound waves?
14. Caroline going to the hills, the silent men, the grandmother, the young girl as her eyes? The death, the cutting open of the old man, taking out his spirit,
its being kept in the container? The image of the distorted cross on the container?
15. Caroline going to see the witness, the story of the preacher, the visualising of it? Killing the family, the hill people and the execution, his spirit, contained? His appearance and Caroline’s reaction?
16. Caroline and her fear, the father’s phone calls, his death? Sam, travelling with Stephen, the crash, Stephen and the glass, his death?
17. Caroline and Sam, running, hiding, being pursued? Sam and her death? Reviving – but with the alien spirit?
18. The plausibility of the plot, psychologically, religiously? The transfer of spirits? The pessimistic ending?
