Presence of Mind

I have always been fond of The Turn of the screw, so I was keen to watch this take on the story. It has a beautiful setting and some strong cast members, BUT! The lead, played here by Sadie Frost, destroys the whole thing. Also, a warning! There is what I felt was a very distasteful scene in it with the children who appear to be naked but covered, alluding to playing out an act they had witnessed between Jessel and Fosc (Quint) that I felt was entirely unnecessary. It could have been implied instead, especially given how young the child actors in this are. If you are like me and love the original tale, avoid this at all costs.

I am surprise this movie only received a PG-13 rating? The frontal nudity and taboo subjects explored in this film warrants a "R" rating. I know European rating standards are different from the United States,but there should be a warning on the DVD. The movie wasn't scary as it tempted to address the psychological affects ghosts has on the children. I have seen several versions of this story based on Herny James "Turn of the Screw" This version rates average. The costumes and acting is far superior than the screenplay. The best "Haunted children movies" is by far Nicole Kidman's "The Others" brilliant acting and screenplay, which was influenced by "The Turn of the Screw" I have a bone to pick. Why hire a actor whose accent is not the same as the rest of the cast? That can be so annoying.

This is an American/Spanish movie adaptation of the classic Victorian ghost story "The Turn of the Screw." I would urge anyone to seek out the wonderful "The Innocents" (1961) version instead of this poor effort. Sadie Frost plays a young governess hired by a rather creepy uncle (Harvey Keitel), referred to as The Master, to care for his orphaned nephew Miles and niece Flora, two young children that live in a large old Spanish villa. The house is haunted by two former employees. The film started off quite disturbingly by featuring the real life bizarre Victorian practice of posing a dressed corpse next to family members in order to be photographed. I watched this on Talking Pictures TV (UK), they rated it 18 but apart from one brief scene of nudity and the suggestion of incest between Miles and his sister I found the film to be rather limp. The scenes showing the two ghosts - one male, one female - were poorly staged and not in the least bit scary. I didn't think much of Sadie Frost's performance, I was pleasantly surprised when she briefly stripped off naked in front of a long mirror though. As far Harvey Keitel, he is only in the film for a few minutes at the start. Look out for the crew member wearing denim jeans next to a horse, he's even looking at the camera! One of the few positives for me was the filming location at the Raixa Estate on the Spanish island of Mallorca, an impressive old house with nice palm fringed gardens. Despite a fairly promising the start the film soon goes downhill and ends disappointingly. There have been several film and TV adaptations of this story, this being the worst that I have seen to date. Watch The Innocents (1961) instead!

This movie is completely ruined by Sadie Frost who can't act and is rather too 'common' and for a period role. Shame really as it could have been rather good.

This movie is a good adaptation of the novel by henry james 'turn of the screw', thought it is not as scary and intense as the best adaptation of this novel 'the innocents'. First of all, it is quite surprising that this film is the first work of the director antoni aloy, and he managed to cast lauren bacall, harvey keitel and sadie frost, who all develope a correct performance. but ironically all these great actors can't fight with the kids, who act in a perfect way. the direction is quite correct and the cinematography and music are great. unfortunately due to economic problems this film hasn't been released in almost any country, just in spain in a few screens and it hasn't get the recognition it deserves.