Dir.
Mathieu Kassovitz, US, 2003, 98 mins
Cast:
Halle Berry, Robert Downey jnr, Penelope Cruz, Charles S. Dutton
Drawing on the gothic tradition of "violent change enveloped in mystery and steeped in moody atmosphere", this 21st Century tale of a respected criminal psychologist, Dr Miranda Grey (Berry), who finds herself accused of the violent and bloody murder of her own husband and is incarcerated alongside the criminally insane patients she once treated, Gothika promises much.
Following a real or imagined encounter with a ghostly young woman, Miranda awakens to find her husband dead and all the evidence pointing towards her. Her attempts to remember the events of that only lead to her demonstrating an increasingly erratic behaviour that makes everyone - her former colleague, Dr Pete Graham (Downey Jnr), herself, and us - question her sanity. According to Susan Lewis, one of the producers, Gothika "taps into a fear that we all have - being told you did something terrible that you have no memory of doing . is it all happening in Miranda's mind? Is it a conspiracy? Or is she being manipulated by a supernatural force?"
As Miranda continues to suffer from terrifying ghostly visitations, she becomes convinced that she is possessed by a vengeful spirit, acerbated by Chloe (Cruz), her former patient, a murderess whose confessions of satanic torture she had previously dismissed as paranoid delusions. Now Miranda is not so sure.
Directed by Amelie's Mathieu Kassovitz, the atmosphere of Gothika is certainly most chilling and haunting, with a desolate setting that is a turn-of-the-century maxi mum security prison. Its cavernous shadowy greyness seems to envelop like a fog, both physically and mentally, a tangible metaphor for Miranda's obscured state of mind.
Indeed, Gothika begins intriguingly well, manipulating the audience's mind alongside Miranda's into questioning reality. Berry is suitably unglamourous as the confused patient, a well-handled transition from the cool, detached professional we first meet. However, unlike her role in Monster's Ball, Berry's performance as the patient lacks conviction. There is a superficiality here and she fails to demonstrate the full complexity that is the key to both the character and the film. Instead, she appears to switch between feisty heroine and frightened victim, neither showing traces of the other.
For all its (largely successful) attempts at creating a labyrinth of mystery - albeit some of the 'shock' moments being a little heavy-handed - the ultimate question is why the filmmakers chose to hurtle towards such a cliched and increasingly obvious denouement that betrays the earlier subterfuge. A disappointing ending to what could have been a great film.
Jean Lynch
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