Shadow of truth

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Movie
German title Shadow of truth
Original title What Lies Beneath
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2000
length 124 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 14
Rod
Director Robert Zemeckis
script Clark Gregg
Sarah Kernochan
production Jack Rapke
Steve Starkey
Robert Zemeckis
music Alan Silvestri
camera Don Burgess
cut Arthur Schmidt
occupation
synchronization

Shadow of Truth is a psychological horror thriller starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer . It was shot by Robert Zemeckis in 2000 .

action

The successful scientist Dr. Norman Spencer and his wife Claire, a former orchestral musician, live in their recently restored Vermont lake mansion . Her life seems perfect: Claire's daughter from her first marriage is starting her studies at a distant college, and both look forward to more time together. Even so, Claire, not employed and alone all day as a result of Norman's intensive research, is now without any real assignment. She misses her daughter and clearly feels lonely and empty.

Very soon the Spencers noticed their neighbors Warren and Mary Feur on the one hand through massive arguments, on the other hand through loud sex. In the garden, Claire soon meets Mary, completely distraught, who seems frightened and desperate. Norman wants to stay out of foreign affairs, but promises Claire to find out about the psychologist Feur at the research institute.

Claire watches Warren shortly after, as he heaves something that looks a lot like a body bag into the trunk of his car during a thunderstorm at night. Claire is now convinced that Mary was murdered by her husband. Norman reacts increasingly irritated to Claire's suspicions, but she experiences strange events in the house: Doors open by themselves, picture frames fall over, the music system suddenly switches on and off. Cooper, the Spencer's dog, is also acting unusual.

Worried, she visits Norman in his laboratory and observes an animal experiment with a paralytic drug. Norman tells her that Warren Feur is considered completely harmless at the university, and continues to reassure Claire. She, too, in some ways fears being ridiculous.

Armed with a basket full of welcome gifts as an excuse to visit, Claire looks for clues at the Feurs' house. There she had already found a woman's shoe with a stain like blood. When she wants to secretly leave the property, she is caught by Warren and declares her presence with the gift basket. Warren avoids her efforts to "casually" ask about Mary. Claire feels confirmed in her suspicions and continues to spy on Warren, which is not hidden from him. At dinner with friends, Norman ridicules her “supernatural” experiences, while Claire is encouraged by her friend Jody. Shortly afterwards she has the terrifying vision of a young woman in the bathroom. At Norman's insistence, Claire begins psychotherapy. She reports to the therapist Dr. Drayton of their suspicions and receives the surprising advice to investigate the ghostly apparitions and to communicate. Along with Jody then performs a seance with a Ouija ironing board through which remains seemingly inconclusive - but shortly after the words "you know" appear ( "You know it") in the tarnished bathroom mirror. Her computer also lets Mary's initials , MEF, appear on the screen for no apparent reason . Claire is now firmly convinced that Mary's spirit is seeking contact with her. She confronts Norman with it and accuses him of his ignorance. Immediately thereafter, she meets Warren Feur and publicly accuses him of the murder of his wife. The situation becomes extremely embarrassing when Mary Feur appears alive on the spot. Claire begins to doubt herself, but accepts a book about ghosts as a gift from Jody. Mary Feur also apologizes to her for frightening her so much.

Things seem to have calmed down, but shortly afterwards another picture frame breaks, which contains a newspaper clipping from a Norman award. On the back, Claire happened to read about the disappearance of a young woman with the initials MEF: Madison Elizabeth Frank. Claire now suspects that this must be the woman from her vision. Norman reacts aggressively to this renewed "ghost story" and denies knowing Madison.

Claire goes to Madison's mother to find out more about her. She steals a braid of hair from Madison's unchanged room and takes it home, where a change takes place with her. When Norman comes to her, she is both dismissive and aggressive in a sexy way, which Norman deeply irritates. It becomes clear - also for Norman - that Claire is under a foreign influence. In a vision-like flashback, Claire realizes that she has actually seen Madison before; there is a repressed memory of them. A year earlier, Norman had a relationship with Madison and was caught red-handed by Claire. She confronts Norman and leaves the house in an argument. She learns that Jody also knew about the affair and that Claire's car accident immediately afterwards was a suicide attempt .

When she returns the next morning, she finds Norman lying unconscious in the bathtub, apparently a blow dryer that has fallen into the water has caused an electric shock. However, the doctor who was summoned could not see any damage, and Norman played down the incident as well. He later admits his misstep with Madison and speaks to Claire: He reports that Madison threatened to kill himself while trying to end their affair. He still rules out an attack by Madison's mind, but secretly contacts a parapsychologist to discuss the matter. Claire, on the other hand, seems to be under foreign influence again and jumps into the lake for no reason. Norman saves her and is finally ready to respond to Claire. Together they follow the instruction in Jody's book and try to achieve an exorcism by burning Madison's braid. After that, Claire seems to be better; she confirms the presence is gone and even begins to play the cello again. She forgives Norman his misstep, and the situation eases.

Soon after, Claire falls into a key with which one can open a small box that she finds in the lake not far from her house. Inside are various utensils from the missing Madison. The key comes from an artist colony where Jody happened to see Norman during his affair with Madison. Claire realizes that Norman must have something to do with Madison's disappearance. In response to Claire's allegations, he claims that Madison committed suicide while she was with him. Then he sank them in the lake out of panic.

Claire now clearly demands that the body be recovered. Norman apparently agrees and reports to the police over the phone that they have information about the missing woman. However, Claire, who has become suspicious, quickly realizes that he only called information. She realizes that Madison did not commit suicide, as Norman claims, but was murdered by him. Norman realizes this and now wants to kill Claire too. He gives her the paralyzing drug, whose strong effects Claire had seen in the laboratory, and tries to drown her by slowly running water in the bathtub. Meanwhile, in cold blood, he explains the truth to her, namely that he drowned Madison with his own hands. But when Claire suddenly seems to have the features of the dead Madison for Norman, he falls heavily in horror and passes out. At the last minute, Claire, when the paralysis slowly subsides, manages to free herself and to flee with the pickup after a fight with the injured Norman . But Norman manages to hide in the boat trailer and surprises her while driving in the car. In a scuffle, they drive into the lake. At the sight of Madison's corpse of water suddenly floating up there , Norman is so shocked that Claire is able to free herself while he stays in the car and drowns.

Finally, Claire can be seen in winter in the cemetery, laying a rose on Madison's grave, and Madison's face can be seen in the snow.

production

Filming

The filming took place during a break in the filming of Cast Away , so that Tom Hanks could lose a lot of weight and grow a beard for his role. The entire Cast Away crew was filmed so that they weren't hired elsewhere in the meantime.

synchronization

role Actress German dubbing voice
Dr. Norman Spencer Harrison Ford Wolfgang Pampel
Claire Spencer Michelle Pfeiffer Katja Nottke
Warren Fire James Remar Thomas Danneberg
Mary Fire Miranda Otto Ulrike Stürzbecher
Beatrice Victoria Bidewell Ranja Bonalana
Caitlin Spencer Katharine Towne Marie Bierstedt
Dr. Drayton Joe Morton Peter Reinhardt
Dr. Stan Powell Ray Baker Reinhard Kuhnert
Elena Wendy Crewson Christin Marquitan
Jody Diana Scarwid Alexandra Lange
Lois Templeton Sloane Shelton Christel Merian

reception

Reviews

Film critic James Berardinelli derided the thriller on ReelViews as "a parody of Scary Movie ". The action is "predictable". Berardinelli praised Michelle Pfeiffer for wearing the film.

epd Film 10/2000 wrote: “Unlike films based on comedy such as Mel Brooks' Hitchcock homage Höhenkoller or even more as a Scary Movie, as well as all films in the wake of the Naked Cannon, which bombard the viewer with quotes, Zemeckis uses 'Film of a deliberately restrained increase in tension with long shots and an artistically slow narrative pace. "

The lexicon of international films wrote: "An exciting horror film that makes use of familiar stylistic devices which, through a skillful increase in tension, convincing actors and a conscious break with the narrative traditions of Hollywood cinema, develops in a complex and psychologically credible manner."

Awards

Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Zemeckis and the film for Best Horror Film were nominated for the Saturn Award . Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award , Diana Scarwid was nominated for this award. Alan Silvestri won the ASCAP Film and Television Music Award .

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

Gross profit

The production of the film cost about 90 million US dollars . The film grossed approximately $ 155 million in US cinemas.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Age rating for Shadows of Truth . Youth Media Commission , accessed on February 4, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Dave Kehr : 'Cast Away' Director Defies Categorizing. The New York Times , December 17, 2000, accessed February 4, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Shadow of Truth. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on February 4, 2018 .
  4. ^ Review by James Berardinelli
  5. ↑ Shadow of Truth. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  6. ^ Box office / business for What Lies Beneath, accessed August 15, 2007