Review by begob

After her release from psychiatric care, a woman's attempt to settle into a new apartment is disturbed by a series of upsetting events.

Not-so-tight psychological thriller that left me unsatisfied. The main strength is the lead performance, which presents a difficult character who causes everyone around to take a step back. Plenty of close-ups, and a couple of scenes where psychotic-breaks are represented by body-cam focused on the actor's face as she moves around.

The story tries to have the apartment block stand in for society, with its well-meaning but uncomprehending reaction to the protagonist's deteriorating state. But it also seems to stand for her own psyche, as she insists that a woman is dying within its walls. It might have helped if we knew what she was actually missing through the unspecified tragedy in the flashbacks. Just companionship? But why would that induce psychosis? In the end the story seems to insist that the experience was all literally true, and does it through voice-over rather than imagery - not a great way to finish off a piece of cinema.

Just too many discrepancies left for me - am I supposed to believe the other residents and the social services were in bad faith? - and I always thinks it's a mistake for a psychic story to insist on literal truth, because it takes away the nuance that allows meaning to find a place in the gaps in the official version.

The editing is good, but the pace was a bit of a drag, mostly because the woman's behaviour became tiresome. Music and sound design created good tension.

Overall: Simple story that sedated its own psychology.