I confess to being a tad disappointed here. Certainly the much-touted “ambiguity” – is the house haunted, or is it all the product of the governess’s imagination? – is hard to find. Very differently from James’ novella, the film clearly – too clearly – signposts it all as the imaginings of a sexually obsessed/repressed spinster. The more interesting questions of how much the children (especially, the boy Miles)know and what the real nature of their “corruption” is are not something the film is concerned with exploring, being centred on the character of the governess and dominated by the too-familiar tropes of a rather conventional ghost movie – the latter being well-done in their own way, but being a Val Lewton fan I would have appreciated a little more restraint.
by Ian Johnston | Source: BFI DVD
31 Dec 2006 1:44 PM | Submit Comment