The Awakening (2011)

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Movie
German title Ghosts of the past
Original title The Awakening
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 2011
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Nick Murphy
script Stephen Volk
Nick Murphy
production Sarah Curtis
Julia Stannard
David M. Thompson
music Daniel Pemberton
camera Eduard Grau
cut Victoria Boydell
occupation

The Awakening (alternate title: The Awakening: Ghosts of the Past ) is a 2011 British mystery thriller directed by Nick Murphy and written by Stephen Volk with Murphy. The leading roles are Rebecca Hall , Dominic West and Imelda Staunton .

action

1921: England is marked by loss and grief after the First World War . Many people believe they perceive supernatural phenomena. The scientist Florence Cathcart, whose fiancé was killed in the war, has set herself the goal of exposing these phenomena as tricks and frauds.

At the beginning of the film she takes part in a séance in which a raven is killed in order to use the life force for the evocation, and one of its rites is to repeat the Latin phrase " memento mori " like a prayer wheel , which is so much in this context means like: "Consider (your) mortality". Cathcart interrupts the session after a while and reveals the sleight of hand with which the organizers were working.

At the request of history teacher Robert Mallory, Florence travels to a boarding school in Cumbria to investigate the mysterious death of student Walter Portman. Death is said to be related to a ghostly apparition. Because of the upcoming vacation, the students travel home the next day. Only Florence, Robert, Maud the housekeeper and Tom, the pupil, remain in the boarding school. Tom tells Florence that his parents lived in India, so they cannot pick him up on vacation. Florence immediately takes the serious, friendly boy into her heart.

Although there is soon a natural explanation for the death of Walter Portman, Florence is increasingly aware of ghost apparitions herself and therefore remains at the house to investigate the matter. Everywhere in the boarding school she sets up self-releasing cameras, magnetic field sensors and other measuring devices. In the process, she comes across a puzzling doll's house in which scenes are set up that she has experienced immediately before or has just experienced. When she tries to pick up her fallen cigarettes at the lake, she is inexplicably drawn into the water.

Frightened Florence seeks protection from Robert, and they fall in love. Edward Judd, who has long had a grudge against Robert, watches her making love and a little later tries to rape Florence in the woods. In the fight, she kills Judd with his own weapon and asks Robert not to tell Tom anything about it, whereupon Robert asks in astonishment which Tom she means, there is currently no child at boarding school.

Flashback: The boarding school used to be a house where Florence lived with her parents. The household also included the housekeeper Maud and Tom, the illegitimate son of the father with the housekeeper, who was about the same age as Florence. The children were close friends. That led to the falling out of the parents. In the fight, the father shot his wife and wanted to shoot Florence too, but she crawled together with Tom, so that the father's shot killed Tom. Then the father shot himself. Florence had completely repressed these experiences. She thought she was born in Kenya; the early death of her parents and a scar on her shoulder were explained by a lion attack.

Since then, Tom has haunted the house as a ghost and suffers from his loneliness. His good-natured character has no intention of frightening others, but for the loneliest among the students he became noticeable because of the emotional connection. Outsider Walter Portman died after suffering a fatal asthma attack as a result of such perception.

Maud has now brought Florence into her parents' house with the intention of fulfilling Tom's dearest wish to be with Florence again. After Florence remembers her own repressed childhood with the help of Tom, Maud poisons Florence and herself. Maud dies, Florence is saved by Tom at the last moment, but can still say goodbye to him beforehand.

Alternatively, the film allows the interpretation that Florence is also a ghost. The director confirms this possibility; for him and Rebecca Hall, however, Florence survived.

backgrounds

The Awakening was filmed on locations in England and Scotland from July 2011 , including London , Berwickshire , East Lothian , Lyme Park in Cheshire , and Manderston House in Manderston , Duns .

The film was the opening film of the Toronto Film Festival on September 16, 2011 and was shown in British and Irish cinemas from November 11, 2011 . In Germany, the film was released directly on DVD on June 7, 2013.

Reviews

According to the Rotten Tomatoes website , 62% of the 65 reviews were positive.

The lexicon of the international film judges: “Bloodless ghost horror, which in the form of a horror story paints the picture of a society whose trust in the world and human image of the Enlightenment was shaken in the course of the First World War. Even if the resolution seems a bit flat compared to the rest of the captivating story, thanks to strong actors and an atmospheric staging, the film entertains until the end. "

Trivia

The painting, which is said to be the student's favorite, is called " Judith and Holofernes " and was painted in 1612 by the Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1652).

While examining the classroom where many of the ghost sightings took place, the plaque behind Florence reads, “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.” This is a line from the British poem “ For the Fallen ” Poet Laurence Binyon . Published in 1914, it was seen as an ode to the British soldiers who died in World War I. This points to the graduates of the boarding school who died in the World War.

anachronism

After Florence had gone into the hidden chamber and found a stuffed rabbit with doll clothes and inserted toys, a song played on pressure on it. However, at this point, toys could only play short melodies. The first toy was the " Lioretgraph Jumeau ", which sang a maximum of 35 words from a small gramophone . More developed musical toys did not appear until the late 1930s and early 1940s.

The county of Cumbria , in which the boarding school is said to be located, was not established until 1974.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for The Awakening . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2013 (PDF; test number: 137 749 V).
  2. ↑ http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/169205-exclusive-interview-the-awakening-director-nick-murphy/
  3. ^ "Filming locations for 'The Awakening'" . IMDb . Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  4. ^ Film start The Awakening On: filmstarts.de , accessed on August 3, 2013.
  5. ↑ The Awakening in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed on September 22, 2015.