Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

The Awakening (2011)

Director: Nick Murphy

Time Out rating

Average user rating

9 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

There is more than a whiff of stuffy, ‘Downton Abbey’-style costume drama about Nick Murphy’s old-fashioned ghost story – a frustrating ‘film of two halves’ whose themes also echo more contemporary supernatural thrillers such as ‘The Others’ or ‘The Orphanage’. It’s 1921 and England is still reeling from the one and a half million lives taken by World War I and a subsequent flu epidemic. Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall), an obsessive debunker of those spiritualists who exploit bereaved relatives by staging fake seances, is invited to an isolated boarding school by sceptical schoolmaster Robert Mallory (Dominic West). A boy has died in mysterious circumstances, and several frightened pupils – including lonely, sensitive Tom (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) – claim to have seen a ghostly child at night. Using scientific reason and sophisticated photographic equipment, no-nonsense, trouser-wearing Florence is determined to find a more rational explanation.

The atmospheric storyline starts well, taking care to establish characters and events from their past that continue to ‘haunt’ and debilitate them. West’s grouchy schoolmaster is an ex-soldier wracked by survivor’s guilt, while Florence’s anti-spiritualist zeal is fed by her own shame at having abandoned a lover who was later killed at the front. However, when it is revealed that Florence was summoned at the behest of the school’s solicitous matron, Maud (Imelda Staunton), the script by Murphy and Stephen Volk shifts its focus, and our suspension of disbelief immediately goes Awol. A ridiculous revelation and a redundant sexual assault undercut all good sense, as fierce rationality gives way to absurd contrivance and hysteria.

Author: Nigel Floyd

Time Out London Issue 2151: 10 – 16 November, 2011

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

three stars! said...

Posted on Mar 25 2012 23:59 It was disappointing, for the reasons the reviewer identified, but it was better than 2 stars.

Report as inappropriate
blib said...

Posted on Mar 12 2012 07:53 Highly enjoyable ghostly nonsense, atmospheric. couple of nice little twists. Ghost stories seldom make complete sense (how can they?)

Report as inappropriate
Mark said...

Posted on Dec 25 2011 21:31 I thought this was an excellent film. Hugely atmospheric, great acting from the main characters. My 'film of the year'!

Report as inappropriate
critique said...

Posted on Nov 19 2011 09:52 Flawed but watchable English period ghost story. As Nigel Floyd indicates, there are storng echos of The Orphanage and The Others but don`t expect this to be in the same class.

Report as inappropriate
scrumpyjack said...

Posted on Nov 15 2011 11:24 2* is hugely harsh. OK, it's no Devils Backbone but chills reasonably and looks suitably gloomy without looking dull like so many films lately. Enjoyed from start to finish. 6/10

Report as inappropriate
jaycee said...

Posted on Nov 15 2011 06:10 Very well done film.Beautifully shot and full of atmosphere,with great acting. The end reveal is too elaborate, but the final scene is nicely ambiguous - who is alive and who dead?

Report as inappropriate
jaycee said...

Posted on Nov 15 2011 06:07 Very well done film.Brautifully shot and full of atmosphere,with greatacying. The end reveal is too elaborate, but the final scene is nicely ambiguous - who is alive and who dead?

Report as inappropriate
mr_X said...

Posted on Nov 09 2011 15:10 terrible film. simply a bad british version of the others with bits of the orphanage thrown in that barely does enough to cover it up. at times it felt like even the cast didnt believe in the film either. honestly it was more like a tv movie, though serials like sherlock etc do period england much better. amazing that british film companies, considering they are working with smaller budgets than in the US on the whole, and produce less, still find time/room to produce stuff like this.

Report as inappropriate
David Wilson said...

Posted on Nov 09 2011 11:32 Saw a preview, don't really agree with this review - thought it was a great film. Once of the best looking and sounding films i've seen for ages - Very atmospheric, Rebecca Hall was ace. Ok maybe one twist too many but nice to see a British film that aims high for once.. Go see!

Report as inappropriate