The Quiet Room

The fascination with perception and communication that characterised de Heer's Bad Boy Bubby again dominates this look at a couple's deteriorating relationship as witnessed (with confusion and misunderstanding) by their seven-year-old daughter, who simply refuses to speak - though we hear her thoughts in voice-over. Without ramming the point home, de Heer shows the well-meaning parents' insensitivity, their desperation and their occasional readiness to use the child as a pawn in their power games; and while it's basically a one-idea movie, and perhaps too concerned with formal originality, as opposed to emotional content, it still offers acute insights into a child's inner world.