La femme en noir

Last night, after a lesson planning party (which included ordering pizza for the first time in France...a story all its own), we decided to watch The Woman in Black, the horror film with Daniel Radcliffe.  I have quite a lot to say about it, so I thought I would rant a little here...

Now, before I start, I think I better say that the conditions for watching this particular horror film were not the greatest.  It was on a laptop (much less scarier than on the big screen, I imagine), the internet connection kept going in and out (so we had to pause the movie a couple of times), and the fact that some of the other assistants were trying to relieve the tension a bit by burping at intervals, making jokes about Harry Potter, and playing the SNCF sound.  (It is an inside joke with us, I'm afraid.  It is certainly the most annoying noise you've ever heard.  I found a music remix of the four notes they play in the station.  Why do the people I hang around with set this noise as their ringtone?!?!? When you've heard it as many times as I have, it is quite amusing and annoying at the same time.)  It also didn't help that Rosie was screaming and whimpering in my ear at intervals throughout the movie (which gave away some of the surprises, I'm afraid.)

After we decided what language to watch it in (English with Spanish subtitles...Chinese with Japanese subtitles was carefully considered, but vetoed in the end) we passed around the red wine and sparkling water (I had the water, just so you know) and settled down to watch the film.

The story takes place mostly in Cryphon Gifford in a haunted mansion inhabited by the woman in black. Daniel Radcliffe (who plays Mr. Kipps, I believe...again, not sure due to the chitchat and frequent burping).  He is some sort of inheritance executor and must go through all of the papers in the house before it is sold.

He soon discovers that the house is haunted by the woman is black.  Every time someone sees her, a child in the village dies by suicide (because her son died by a violent death as well?)  Mr. Kipps tries to appease her ghost by finding the body of her son (who drowned in the mire), but it doesn't work.

The plot is very thin and there is almost no character development on the part of Mr. Kipps.  Rosie assures me that the book is better, but I still don't see the ghost's vengeance tactics as logical.  After all, why would ghost be visible if not to have people see them? It's not our fault if we can see, but entirely theirs.  It's not like every time she comes in contact with an adult she hurts that person or that person's children--just some child from the village, completely at random.

Nevertheless, the film was superbly shot and directed.  The tension just oozed out of every scene.  I became interested in the next thrill or scary thing rather than the development of the main character.  I still don't know what I was supposed to get out of the film. What was the message?  Why did I waste my time watching it?  What is my benefit, the lesson learned?  I guess I'll have to read the book to find out.

UPDATE: After talking with Rosie, its clear that the book is better and makes more sense.  Oh Hollywood!

Let me finish this story by saying that when I got home and was just getting ready for bed, I heard a loud thump in the stairway of death (which usually makes creepy noises at night anyway).  Perhaps I did jump a bit, and perhaps I went to bed quite quickly, keeping the light on a bit longer than usual, considering it was in the wee hours of the morning. The imagination, my friends, is more powerful than the screen.