Story
time: I got my taste for the supernatural from my dad. While he slowly eased me into
the world of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror with super hero cartoons every
Saturday, it morphed into a shared interest in the paranormal. I was in middle
school when he brought home The Others,
starring Nicole Kidman and directed by Alejandro Amenábar. I remember watching
it late one night on my laptop without any idea what it was about. All I knew was my dad wanted
to see it so it must be good. I’ve always been decent at figuring out the ends
of stories, and I wasn’t half bad even then. But what stuck with me even years
after first seeing The Others was the
thrill of not seeing it coming. I’ve only come across two stories that have
completely caught me off guard with their twist endings, one being Dennis
Lehane’s novel Shutter Island and the
other being The Others.
I
loved how unexpected the ending was when I first saw it, so much that the next
day I watched it to see what clues I had missed. Several years’ worth of alleged
maturity and wisdom later when I watched it for this class, I paid attention to
every detail. The only indication I found of a major twist ending was that
none of the wardrobe choices quite matched the style of the 1940s, which is
when the story takes place. Yet the wardrobe choices were so subtle, I’m not
sure I would’ve noticed them unless I was paying attention. If anyone found any
other clues, please let me know!
When
thinking about the twist ending of The
Others and the lack of clues I found pointing to it, I couldn’t help
but wonder if the twist was a bit of a cheat. It’s been my experience that
twist endings all have clues pointing to them. The truly masterful twists leave clues that are so subtle, they’re hard to find unless you go looking for them. This held true in Shutter Island, yet not so much in The Others. Unless I’m missing something
(which is very likely), it’s not that the clues were well hidden, there simply
weren’t any.
While
I love being taken off guard by an ending, I felt a little… well, betrayed.
There’s a difference between being surprised and being blindsided, and The Others has left me blindsided
multiple times even though I know what’s going to happen. No matter how I look at it, I keep coming back to deus ex machina--god from the machine.
Yet,
maybe that was the point of the story—not only to take a trope and turn it on
its head, but to not let the viewers know they were watching the story upside
down the entire time. As you might can guess, I have internal conflict over
this movie and what the story achieves. I love it, I always will, but I feel
gypped by the ending. There was nothing, not even in retrospect, to get me used
to the idea that (SPOILER ALERT)
Nicole
Kidman and her kids have been dead the entire time.
At
the end of the day, The Others will
remain one of my favorite movies. The atmosphere is spot on, the characters are
memorable, and it has a twist ending that has stuck with me for about ten
years. While I don’t want to translate Amenábar’s technique into my writing, I
can respect it for leaving me breathless and wondering.
I love this move, and Shutter Island too! When I heard that Shutter Island was a book it made me angry that the twist was already spoiled, but oh well. If something has to get spoiled then I'm glad Leo had a hand in it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, clues.... hmmm. That's a good question. There are lots of unsettling things but all of them point away from the truth. The appearance of her husband and him saying "I bleed sometimes" sort of suggests that they aren't in the real world. Also, the fact that the kids are mysteriously cured of their disease (of course when you're watching this you assume that Kidman's character is just crazy so the cure doesn't really stand out). I'm guess there's more, but I'll have to watch the movie again with my laptop handy.
I can appreciate a twist ending, in fact I love them. However, I just didn't like this movie and I think the twist was the only interesting part of it. I watched this movie knowing about the twist, so I was able to see some clues when they popped up. The mail left in the mailbox, the priest not coming by (because the kids can't leave the house), and a few little things like that. I was thrown off by how the servants could see them and talk with them. That kept me guessing for most of the movie. The father returning and disappearing so quickly was a little strange for me, just becuase of how he magically popped up.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm glad you liked it and enjoyed the movie. : )
You bring up a very good point. It's easy to make a twist ending when it literally comes out of nowhere, AND it is a cheat. The thing that makes twists good is the skill required to leave clues, but misdirecting the reader into missing them. It's a game of wits. The Others didn't really do that. I actually thought there were clues that there weren't (like my impression that the kids couldn't be exposed to sunlight because it would reveal they were dead. Evidently, not true.)
ReplyDelete