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The house is shuttered and isolated. Grace (Nicole Kidman) and her children, Anne (Alakina Mann)
and Nicholas (James Bentley) live there, without servants who had left with no notice. Though wary of strangers, one day, Grace lets in three people coming towards her door,
believing that they are the staff she had sent for. With no protest, they are shown the premises, their quarters and given their chores. Mrs. Bertha Miller (Fionnula Flanagan)
is the housekeeper; Mr. Tuttle, the groundskeeper and Lydia the chambermaid. Grace tells them that every door opened must be closed and locked before another door could be
opened, all window curtains are to shut out light, and there should be no noise; for she is prone to terrible headaches and the photosensitive children to bodily eruptions.
Above all they fear intruders. However, the rules seem to be lightly taken. When Anne and Mrs. Miller insist that it must be the work of intruders, for they have seen signs,
and sight, of at least one presence. Convinced, what must Grace do to find the truth? If true, what line of action will she have to take to solve the problem?
The plot is simple. Events, together with the suspense, are built up using the fear of light,
noise and intruders. Light and noise are easy to resolve, but once strangers intrude, it is a difficult situation to handle. Nicole Kidman, the lone protagonist, does a fine
job of being Grace, the unstable woman who has just lost her husband in the war, and is fraught with the idea of being alone with two children. Direction and script give an
interesting mix of characters (Who are "the others?") whose true identities are well kept until the end.
To depend solely on a spouse (in this case, he goes of to war and is killed), and isolated from
family with no friends nor neighbors is not a situation anyone should put himself or herself in. No man is an island, and no one can live as one. That Grace resorted to
religion to protect herself and the children is very briefly and vaguely shown. The relevance of these shots would be, that no matter how unclear or mixed up her beliefs are,
in a crisis Grace still resorted to her God for help.
(Date reviewed: January 25, 2002)
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