The Awakening

It's 1921 after the horrors of WWI, England is full of charlatans trying to scam grieving people. Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) is a professional skeptic driven to exposing hoaxes and getting the cons arrested. Robert Mallory (Dominic West) invites her to investigate a ghost at a boarding school. There was a murder long ago that could be the source, and recently a student had died. Florence is met by governess Maud Hill (Imelda Staunton) and the boy Thomas Hill. Teachers and staff soon goes on vacation leaving Florence alone with Robert, Maud and Tom in the school.

This setting has a good old fashion atmosphere. It's basically a big old isolated building with a handful of people and a ghost story. You can't really get any more classic than that. The story does have a convoluted twist that could be quite problematic. I was able to follow the twist, and I'm fine with it. Rebecca Hall is a nice capable actress. And she makes a good avenging heroine and a damsel in distress.

The movie does not sound original, in terms of plot and style, it is a very old-style ghost story, built according to the most traditional but still effective means in pictures like these, where the supernatural has to find its ways. Creaking doors, mysterious sounds, light and dark play, set in a solitary gloomy mansion in the English countryside, are part of the oldest tradition of scary movies, the plot twists are also not new, but the impression I got is that of a simple, well crafted ghost story, with an interesting psychological insight, that without needing exaggerated sci-fi effects gets to appeal and entertain the viewer till the end. A good English cast helps give insight to the the frailty and fears of its characters, and to make up for some flaws in the picture, above all a rather hasty and underdeveloped finale, as opposed to some slowness in the previous parts.

This film is set in a post-World War One society, devastated by loss and alienated from traditional Christian answers about the afterlife. The settings, context and costumes are done perfectly. The tensions between the situation and characters develop quickly, with the help of some genteel and understated movie tropes. But it is in the these tropes that it loses its way somewhat, and towards the last quarter IMO it loses its way royally. Take a pick n mix from haunted doll house, weird kid, who's a ghost, repressed memories and crazy ladies and you can have the awakening of your choice.....

Wow! I just finished watching The Awakening, and I have to say I've not seen such a complete and entertaining Gothic tale since The Orphanage.

While The Awakening does not have quite the depth of angst of El Orfanato, it nonetheless maintains a constant tension and audience puzzlement up until the last few minutes, when more questions than answers are evident.

Rebecca Hall's Florence Cathcart, and the method used for her professional 'Ghost Busting' procedures reminded me of the scenes set in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes mythology. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it is definitely there.

7/10 - Highly recommended.

I love old-fashioned ghost stories, both in literature and in moving picture. It's a harder genre than people give credit to, especially because it's age. Since it has been done to death, almost every possibility and approach seems to have been covered. However, there are movies that have taken the this tired formula and made splendid films - The Orphanage is a good example of a ghost story done right. The Awakening started off right. The acting was good, the mood was efficiently set and the cinematography gorgeous to look at. I was many times at absolute awe at the beautiful images and camera shots that the movie boosted. However, the central thing in a movie is it's plot, and that's where things get shaky. The plot wasn't that great to begin with and as it progressed became less interesting, managing nonetheless to sustain my interest throughout until the end, which was by far the film's greatest weakness. The ending "twist" came too late and was done with too much haste, which hurt it's already shaky believability. I think the ending despite being far-fetched could still work if done more competently and with more preparation. It's still an enjoyable movie, but the beautiful and eerie imagery would be much better served by a better plot. All in all, a solid 5 for the film, 10 for the cinematography. This cinematographer deserves to be well known, assuming he isn't already.