November 14, 2011
In 1921, in the aftermath of WWI, Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) works as a psychic detective, going undercover at séances in London to catch hoaxers preying on the vulnerable with their promise of communication with the dead. She is renowned for her ghostbusting and as a result receives a visit from a professor at a boys' boarding school where a supposed ghost has been terrorizing the pupils, allegedly murdering one of them. Florence is of course highly sceptical, but once at the school she soon discovers that science can no longer explain the creepy goings-on at the old house, and she is forced to face up to her own ghosts; those of the war and of her own childhood.
The Awakening benefits from an all-star cast with Dominic West and Imelda Staunton in supporting roles alongside a very impressive performance from Hall. In terms of the script, there is a big plot twist towards the end which is original and unexpected, but somehow the sudden shift away from all the hints and references to the Great War doesn't quite hang together, and one is left feeling simply surprised, rather than altogether impressed. In other ways the story is frustratingly predicatble, with an all too obvious romantic plotline.
It is of course no coincdence that the film was released on 11/11/11 but the director Nick Murphy hammers the reminders of this home unnecessarily, as with the final 'poetic' line of the film: 'Not seeing them, it isn't the same as forgetting. It isn't'. Similarly some of the characters are disappointingly two-dimensional, most notably the school grounds-keeper Edward Judd (Joseph Mawle) who is presented as an outright baddie with no redeeming features whatsoever.
Murphy does however get it spot on with his feminist portrayal of Florence. When she arrives at the school she is greeted by the headmaster who exclaims 'an educated woman – well, well, well'. The views of her peers are completely overshadowed by her actions as she skillfully uses her scientific knowledge to solve the mystery of the haunted school. The heroine invariably demonstrates a superior level of wit, reason, and strength of character in all of her encounters with men. At times this aspect of the film is again too blatant, but perhaps, considering the portrayal of women in the vast majority of period dramas, this is one subject which can bear being overstated.
The Awakening benefits from an all-star cast with Dominic West and Imelda Staunton in supporting roles alongside a very impressive performance from Hall. In terms of the script, there is a big plot twist towards the end which is original and unexpected, but somehow the sudden shift away from all the hints and references to the Great War doesn't quite hang together, and one is left feeling simply surprised, rather than altogether impressed. In other ways the story is frustratingly predicatble, with an all too obvious romantic plotline.
It is of course no coincdence that the film was released on 11/11/11 but the director Nick Murphy hammers the reminders of this home unnecessarily, as with the final 'poetic' line of the film: 'Not seeing them, it isn't the same as forgetting. It isn't'. Similarly some of the characters are disappointingly two-dimensional, most notably the school grounds-keeper Edward Judd (Joseph Mawle) who is presented as an outright baddie with no redeeming features whatsoever.
Murphy does however get it spot on with his feminist portrayal of Florence. When she arrives at the school she is greeted by the headmaster who exclaims 'an educated woman – well, well, well'. The views of her peers are completely overshadowed by her actions as she skillfully uses her scientific knowledge to solve the mystery of the haunted school. The heroine invariably demonstrates a superior level of wit, reason, and strength of character in all of her encounters with men. At times this aspect of the film is again too blatant, but perhaps, considering the portrayal of women in the vast majority of period dramas, this is one subject which can bear being overstated.