The Others is a 2001 supernatural horror film directed by Alejandro Amenábar, and starring Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, and Fionnula Flanagan. It became the first English spoken film ever to receive the Best Film Award at the Spain's Goya Awards.
The film is set in Jersey, in the immediate aftermath of
World War II, and follows devout Catholic Grace Stewart and her two young children, Anne and Nicholas, who both suffer from a rare disease which means that they cannot risk exposure to sunlight, or it will be fatal to them. The arrival of three servants coincides with a number of odd and increasingly disturbing events - disembodied voices, strange noises, and the children claiming to have seen several ghostly figures - causing Grace to fight to save her children while struggling to keep her sanity.
Known for its multiple
reveals and
Twist Ending.
This film contains examples of:
- Bittersweet Ending
- California Doubling: The film is set in Jersey, but the exterior shots of the mansion were filmed in Spain.
- Catapult Nightmare: Not exactly, but close: At the very beginning of the film, Grace is shown awaking from a nightmare (which the audience doesn't witness) by screaming her head off. The ending, however, reveals that it was no dream - her ghost had just "woken up" from killing her own family and then herself.
- Chekovs Gun: The "book of the dead", not to mention Grace's shotgun.
- Creepy Child: Anne has her moments.
- Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming: Several. One such moment occurs during the ending, when Anne and Nicholas bask in the sunlight - something they were never able to do when they were alive - and regard it with wonder and joy.
- Demonic Possession: Anne possesses the old woman, rather than the other way around, although it is completely unintentional on her part.
- Foreshadowing: Grace's reaction when she first picks up the shotgun when attempting to hunt down the "intruders" foreshadows the film's Twist Ending.
- Heroic BSOD: It is this that causes Grace to snap and kill her children and then herself prior to the events of the film, but she is also well on her way towards another one towards the end of the film. Also, Charles suffers one after returning home from the horrors of war.
- High Octane Nightmare Fuel: The famous "I am your daughter!" scene, the attic scene and the scene with the old woman bursting into the cupboard.
- Not to mention the way the final reveal is done. The way the line "Is that how she killed you?" is delivered is truly chilling, as well as shocking.
- Infant Immortality: Averted hard.
- Madness Mantra: "We're not dead! WE'RE NOT DEAD!"
- Mama Bear: Grace.
- Musical Spoiler: Averted. During the "piano room" scene, the film's scary score increases in volume, leading the viewer to believe that something frightening is about it happen. It doesn't. After a minute or so of tenseness, however, the jump scare does eventually happen - when there's no music playing.
- Nothing Is Scarier
- Our Ghosts Are Different
- Prophet Eyes: The old woman, although this is because she is blind.
- Psychic Powers: The old woman.
- The Reveal: Not only are Mrs. Mills, Mr. Tuttle and Lydia all ghosts, but so are Grace and her family, and the "others" are, in fact, living people who have bought the house and, none too pleased about the fact that it is haunted, are using the old woman to try and contact the spirits of Grace and her children.
- Shell Shocked Veteran: Charles.
- The Speechless: Lydia is a mute. The reason why is not revealed until the ending: She became traumatised upon discovering that she and the two other servants are dead. There is a moment when she does make a valiant attempt to speak, but she just cannot get the words out, no matter how hard she tries.
- Tear Jerker
- Tomato In The Mirror
- Twist Ending: Grace and the kids have been dead all along.
- The Woobie: Grace and Nicholas.
