The Little Stranger 2018

     This film is based on a novel by Sarah Waters.  The setting is in Warwickshire, England of 1948.  Dr. Faraday is the son of a housemaid and he’s become a quiet and respectable country doctor.  In the summer, the day was unusually hot and Dr. Faraday is called to check on a housemaid at Hundreds Hall.  The young woman is not really sick but she would like to go home.  Dr. Faraday's mother once worked at this Hall as a housemaid.  The Ayres family has owned the hall for more than two centuries.  It’s now in decline and the current inhabitants are the mother, son and daughter.  The son was injured during WWII and his face was badly burned.  The family has been haunted by something more ominous than a crumbling house and a life stuck in the past.  While Dr. Faraday is at the Hall, he remembers visiting the home in 1919 when he was a child.  It is not a happy memory because his mother was very angry.  He broke an acorn off of an elaborate wooden carving upstairs.

     I did a lot thinking about the possible directions of where this plot would go before I started to watch the film?  One aspect about this film that I didn’t like is the lack of explanations for the events that happen as they unfold?  If you like films that are slow-paced dramas with a heavy dose of melancholy and also psychological themes, this may be your cup of tea?  I much prefer the list of who, what, when, where, why explanations as used in newspaper articles!!  You never know what to expect when English actress Charlotte Rampling is a member of the cast!!  Also, what is the genre of film?  Is it supernatural, horror, mystery, character study, romance or gothic?  Maybe a category of it’s own?   3* (this movie is OK)

111min, Drama directed by Lenny Abrahamson with Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Ruth Wilson, Liv Hill, Charlotte Rampling, Oliver Zetterstrom, Kathryn O’Reilly, Eddie Toll, Camilla Arfwedson, Tipper Seifert-Cleveland, Peter Ormond, Bailey Rogers, Richard Campbell, Harry Hadden-Paton, Anna Madeley.

Note:  Imdb 5.6 out of 10, Roger Ebert 3*, 65% critic 38% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 3.1* out of 5* with 41 reviews,  The Guardian 4* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, RollingStone 3 ½* out of 5* Peter Travers, Empireonline.com 3* out of 5* Helen O’hara, Metacritic 67 out of 100 with 37 critics 5.2 out of 10 with 36 user reviews, Amazon paperback book 3.6* out of 5* with 567 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Langleybury House, Langleybury, King’s Langley, Herfordshire; Newby Hall, Skelton-on-Ure, North Yorkshire; Market Square, Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.  Lenny Abrahamson also directed Room.  This film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.  The season is supposed to be Christmas.  When Dr. Faraday and Caroline take a walk in the grounds to see the site for new houses that are to be built, the trees in the background are in full leaf?   Domhnall Gleeson was General Hux in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 2019.  Ruth Wilson was Alison Bailey in the long running TV series The Affair 2014-2018.  The first film for Charlotte Rampling was A Hard Day’s Night 1964.  She was born 5 February 1946 in Sturmer, Essex, England UK and she is now 73 years old.