“What Lies Beneath” directed by Robert Zemeckis,
starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison
Ford.
There is a video version of this review you can
WATCH HERE.
This review contains spoilers as I will talk about the film
and its plot in depth so if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want any
spoilers? You’ve been warned.
I will dig in different aspects of this film starting with
the script then the performances and moving on to directing, soundtrack editing
etc.
“What Lies Beneath” came out in 2000. Interesting note about
it is that Robert Zemeckis directed this film while waiting for Tom Hanks to
lose weight to finish the second part of “Cast Away” which also came out in
2000.
So let’s dive into the plot. Again as I mentioned I will
cover practically the whole story.
The film starts with Michelle Pfeiffer’s character Claire
Spencer and it pretty much stays with her the entire film. I don’t think there
is a single scene without her. She is at the center of the plot. We learn that
her daughter is going away to college and she and her husband Norman, a renowned scientist played
by Harrison Ford have just recently settled in a new home which used to belong
to Norman’s father. It’s a beautiful place in Vermont.
We’re also introduced to the couple who lives next door. One
of the first scenes in the film depicts Claire observing the couple fight
outside. This will become a key element in the first part of the film.
Still saddened by her daughter’s departure we find Claire
browsing an old photo album and also glancing at a Cello case in the back. We
see a photo of a wrecked car, Claire becomes upset and runs outside crying but
is interrupted by the sound of her neighbor Mary Feur sobbing behind the fence
that separates the two properties. She attempts to talk to her but the scene
escalates rather quickly with Mary sounding desperate and afraid. Claire is
suspicious about the whole thing. She gets the feeling that maybe her neighbor
is a victim of domestic violence or worse.
Claire tells Norman what happened but he is very dismissive
about it all. He doesn’t think there’s anything to worry about. However he does
promise Claire that he will try to find out more about their neighbors. Claire decides
to go there the next day baring gifts as a welcome. Nobody is home but she
finds a woman’s sandal with a dark stain on it. Right after this scene we meet
Claire’s best friend Jody played by Diana Scarwid. Her appearance serves the
soul purpose of letting us know that Claire has someone she can talk to other
than her husband Norman and of course some key exposition about her past. We
learn that Claire was in a car accident a year earlier. This vaguely explains
Claire’s reaction to the photo of the car which got her crying the day before.
We also get the feeling that Claire is seen as someone disturbed, someone
everyone thinks is a bit crazy after the accident. This includes Norman.
That night, a stormy night at that, Claire notices Mary’s
husband next door putting a large bag in the trunk of his car. A bag that looks
a lot like a body bag. This all happens after the lights go out because of the
storm. She wakes up Norman but when he looks out the window nothing is there.
This only empathizes Claire’s questionable credibility in Norman’s eyes.
The next day strange things begin to happen. A door that
opens by itself. A picture of Norman receiving an award falls down. Claire’s
dog behaves strangely when Claire is at the small dock near the house facing
the lake. As if it senses something. Trying to get the dog’s ball out of the
water Claire notices a very dim shadowy figure lurking in the depths of the
water. She tries to ignore it and this is when Norman calls her that very
instant and she reassures him that everything is fine.
Strange and scary things continue to happen later. Her dog
is missing and the front door opens by itself again, the stereo turns itself on
and off. All of this motivates Claire to visit Norman at his lab. At the start of the scene we get key
exposition about a drug that is being administered to mice. A drug that
paralyzes the subject temporarily but leaves it completely conscious of what is
going on. Claire tells Norman that she heard noises and such. Norman seems
concerned. The next scene we learn Norman is going away for a conference and he
suggests having the police check the house while he’s gone. Claire disagrees
because people will just think she’s a crazy wife who is hearing voices in the
house. This particular moment tells a lot about Claire’s denial and admission
to other people’s perception of her. It’s also in this scene that Norman
reveals what he found out about the neighbors. Mary’s husband is called Warren
Feur and is apparently harmless.
Claire decides to once again take a basket with gifts to her
neighbors. This time she runs into Warren Feur who accepts the gift and dodges
her questions about the whereabouts of Mary who hasn’t been seen since that
first day where she was sobbing. She also finds the sandal exactly where she
left it before.
Claire is suspicious about Warren so she decides to spy on
him from her house. She is more convinced that Mary was killed by Warren. After
a tense moment where it seems like Warren saw her and is on his way to her
house she is startled by Norman who is home to pick her up for dinner with
friends. On the way we get another key
exposition scene in the car. We find out that the cell phone only has signal at
the center of a particular bridge they always pass when leaving the house.
Norman and Claire also debate about what could have happened to Mary Feur. Once
again Norman trivializes the situation while Claire remains convinced something
is up.
The dinner scene serves many purposes. We learn that Claire
used to play the cello and that is how she met Norman in Boston. Norman also
decides to make fun of Claire when they talk about the house. Norman playfully
implies that the house is haunted by his late father. This is a subtle mockery
to Claire’s recent complaints about noises and whispers in the house.
The next scene we find Claire fixing the broken frame of
Norman’s photograph. She finds a mysterious key in a small compartment on the
floor. Right after that she goes upstairs and finds her bathtub filled up with
hot water. She is terrified when she notices the reflection of woman right next to her when she is reaching in to drain
the water. She jumps back screaming. Norman immediately appears and comforts
her.
The following scene Claire is visiting a psychiatrist. This
scene once again emphasizes Claire’s inner conflict of whether or not she is
crazy. She also talks about what she saw
in the bathtub. The doctor suggests she try to contact the spirit she saw in
the house.
Claire asks her friend Jody to join her in a séance in the
bathroom. Nothing much happens other than a flickering candle light and a jump
scare from the dog opening a door. Only after Jody leaving does the true spirit
manifest itself again. As Claire shuts the front door the computer turns itself
on but Claire doesn’t notice. Upstairs the bathtub is again filled with hot
water and the condensed water in the mirror reads “You Know” after Claire
shouts asking what she wants from her. She runs downstairs and finds the
computer on and the initials MEF typed on the screen in a loop.
She reaches Norman at work and they get into an argument
where he claims she is trying to sabotage him by making up all these stories resenting
the fact that he’s been busy. Claire denies all of this and swears something is
going on. Something is happening in their house and she is certain that Warren
Feur killed his wife Mary and she is somehow haunting the house. She spots
Warren Feur in the background and approaches him accusing him of the murder. To
her surprise Mary is right there safe and sound next to her husband. This
leaves Claire on the edge and back at the psychiatrist. In this scene Claire
opens up about how she feels Norman thinks something is wrong with her. She
also admits that perhaps all that happened might have been of her own
imagination and claims to be ready to deal with that.
Mary Feur comes to visit Claire and explains her sobbing and
desperation and apologizes for how she behaved. Mary explains that she was
desperate because she is madly in love with her husband to a point where she
felt physical pain on his absence and that she freaked out and left him. She
explains that Warren took her things in a stormy night and pleaded her to come
home. That explains what Claire thought was a body bag being loaded to the
drunk.
Things seem to get back to normal when Claire and Norman
attend a fancy party. Claire is approached by another guest who asks her how
she is doing. In this scene we understand Claire has some gaps in her memory
about the night she crashed her car. Claire seems confused.
Later in the house Norman’s photograph falls and breaks
again. Claire notices a newspaper clipping inside the broken frame. She discovers that it is a partial
missing person report for Madison Elizabeth Frank (MEF). Reading the clipping,
she realizes that Madison had been a student at the university where Norman was
a lecturer. She decides to visit Madison's mother.
Claire takes a lock of Madison's hair from the mother's house, and uses it to perform
a ritual that allows Madison to possess her. When Norman returns home from
work, Claire, who is still possessed, seduces him. While straddling Norman,
Claire's face briefly morphs into that of Madison's. Frightened by the change
in Claire's appearance, and by comments she has made, Norman pushes her away.
This causes Claire to drop the lock of hair and break the connection with
Madison. Claire's memory begins to return and she recalls that she had once
caught Norman with Madison. They get into a fight. Norman apologizes but Claire
storms out.
Claire is with Jody who confessed she once saw Norman with Madison in a cafe in a
small town not too far called Adamant. Claire realizes she had the accident
after finding out about Norman’s affair.
Claire returns home to find Norman unconscious after attempting a suicide in the
bathtub by electrocution. He is safe because apparently the power went out
before any harm could be done.
Norman explains that he tried to break things off with Madison but she became unstable
and threatened to kill herself or Claire. He claims that after that she just
disappeared. Claire is convinced that she is dead and is trying to hurt Norman
and haunting the house. Norman dismisses this and tries to convince Claire that
it was an accident. No one tried to kill him. There are no ghosts. Things seem
to calm down between the two. Norman reaches out to a paranormal specialist.
The phone call is interrupted when Norman sees Claire walking to the lake and
diving in. Norman saves her and pulls her out of the water. Claire is holding
the lock of Madison’s hair. They decide to burn it. Norman than admits he
believes Claire. Madison is haunting the house.
Claire decides to visit the town Jody mentioned. Adamant. She discovers a jewelry
which has little chests with locks that match the key she found. During these
scenes she also catches Norman lying about never having been to Adamant.
Claire dives into the lake once again and this time finds a chest with a necklace that
belonged to Madison. Before she can call anyone Norman surprises her and this
time tells a different story about him and Madison. He claims that he found her
unconscious at the house, he tried to revive her but she was gone. He then
proceeded to get rid of the body and the chest with a letter to Claire exposing
the affair. He asks for Claire’s forgiveness but she demands he call the police
and confess what happened.
This is when things take a turn for the worse. Norman fakes a call to the police and
subdues Claire. He uses the drug from his lab to paralyze her and reveals the
full details of what happened. Norman explains to Claire that Madison was
planning on going to the college's Dean about their affair, and he could not
let that happen, so he killed her and pushed Madison's car and body into the
lake. Norman drags Claire to the bathtub, which is still running, and places
her in the rising water. Expecting Claire to drown, Norman leans over her
paralyzed body to give her one final kiss. While doing so, he notices that she
is wearing a pendant around her neck. Realizing the pendant is on backwards, he
picks up Claire's head to adjust it. Her face suddenly morphs into the
corpse-like face of Madison. He is startled and jumps up against a mirror,
shattering it. He then collapses and hits his head on the sink, crumpling to
the floor.
Claire,recovering from the sedative, manages to drain the water and not drown. She crawls
out of the bathtub and down the stairs. The phone has been disconnected, so she
starts to drive somewhere that will have better cell phone reception, passing Norman's body as she leaves the
house. Norman, only stunned, chases her and jumps into the truck when she
pauses on a bridge. The truck veers off the bridge and plunges into the lake,
the same lake into which Norman pushed Madison's car. Norman grabs Claire's leg
so that she cannot escape, but Madison's corpse grabs Norman, drags him to the
bottom of the lake, and forces him to release Claire's leg so she can float to
the surface. Once Norman was drowned, Madison's corpse flashes a creepy smile, pleased
that he is dead and that Claire is safe. As if that was a ghost's unfinished
business.
The following winter, Claire is seen placing a single red rose at the grave of
Madison Elizabeth Frank, but not the grave of Norman. The camera pans out and
an image of Madison's face is seen in the snow.
So what do I think of this film? Before I begin rambling on please bare in mind
that every part of a motion picture is always intimately connected to every
other part so sometimes it’s hard to pin point the quality of a moment or scene
without mentioning other aspects of the production. My point is I might talk
about acting and mention editing because those two are tightly related and
influence each other very deeply. That is just one example. Anyway, moving on…
Let’s start by talking about the performances. Both Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison
Ford are flawless. I wouldn’t expect anything less to honest. Pfeiffer however
has a much harder job in her hands. As the central character she needs to pull
her weight and bring her A game to the table. And she does. You care about
Claire Spencer from the first scene to the last. She is our hero until the end.
This is not as easy as it sounds. It takes skill and competence. Michelle
Pfeiffer has both and then some. She clearly dove into the character. She
treats every scene with depth and a lot of work is put into every detail. This
of course has a lot to do with Robert Zemeckis’ direction.
The same can be said about Harrison Ford of course. He is an accomplished actor and
in this film he just confirms once again how good he really is. You believe in
this guy until the script dictates otherwise. He is a good guy until he becomes
the bad guy and boy does Harrison Ford deliver the goods. He resists the
temptation of going over the top at the end when his true nature surfaces. He
balances it all out to make it always believable and not gratuitous.
The chemistry between both actors is evident from the very first scene. The smaller
scenes that bridge the plot are delivered with excellence. They solidify the
credibility of the plot and the background of these characters. The larger
scenes are equal in competence but I dare say those are easier when dealing
with such good writing. It’s not by chance that actors of this caliber end up
where they do in their careers. It takes work people. A lot of work.
There aren’t a lot of secondary characters to really talk about. We have Miranda Otto
before “Lord of the Rings”. She plays Mary Feu.
Miranda is an extraordinary actress but the material in this film doesn’t give her a
lot to do.
Warren Feur is played by James Remar, a well known actor for sometime now. He isn’t in
the film a lot and just like Miranda in every scene he is in he nails it. Diana
Scarwid plays Jodi, Claire’s best friend, and much like the others she doesn’t
haven much to do but delivers as expected. There is also Joe Morton, the
psychiatrist. I’ve seen Joe Morton in many films but one that always comes to
mind is Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He is only in two scenes and doesn’t do a
lot in them but it works.
So to wrap up this topic “What Lies Beneath” is brilliantly acted from start to
finish by all parts. Nothing short of what’s expected from a film of this
caliber. Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford are a delight to watch.
The script is extremely solid and I find little to no problems with it. I remember
being blown away the first time I watched the film in theaters. The twist
towards the end revealing Norman’s crime caught me completely by surprise.
Granted I was younger and eaiser to fool I do howver still think it works very well today. The dialogue is very well
written and much like what you end up seeing in the finished product the film
is very well paced and the plot unfolds very creatively.
Now I would like to talk about Robert Zemeckis’ work. This film is masterfully
directed. In my view Zemeckis pays tribute to Hitchcock in many ways but still
manages to leave his own personal signature and that signature is in a BOLD
LARGE FONT. With this I mean, Zemeckis takes the game to a whole other level.
His relationship with the camera is very unique. His shot compositions and his sequences are carefully plotted. He tends to cover many
dialogue scenes in one shot usually with the aid of a dolly to make those smooth
travelling shots while the dialogue progresses. Much like you write a script
with setups and revelations. Robert Zemeckis does this with the camera
constantly. You can see his shots cutting together seamlessly as the narrative
unfolds. He is unpredictable in his choices but those choices are always
inspired and fresh. He manages to hit the right notes every single time in the
way that he stages a scene. I love a scene in the film on which Claire and
Norman are in the car on their way to have dinner with friends. It’s one shot
using only the mirrors in the car to frame the characters and subtle pans and
tilts to cover the relevant action. This is done with elegance and craft beyond
the reach of most filmmakers these days. And you can also notice beautiful
transitions in his shots as he carries a scene from point A to point B. One
example of this is when Claire is first noticing the broken frame on the floor.
As she picks up the frame and removes the glass the focus is then pulled to the
background showing Warren’s car driving away. He also carefully plots his shots
considering the scene transition. Very often the last shot of one scene will
blend beautifully with the first shot of the next scene. This type of subtlety
is often overlooked by many directors. Another thing I like about this film is
how Zemeckis handles suspense. The staging of the scenes are breathtaking.
There are two moments that I recall that explain what I mean. One is when
Claire is spying on Warren and he is suddenly nowhere to be seen and at one
point the camera, serving as Claire’s point of view quickly pans to his door
and we see the door still swinging suggesting Warren has just left one second
earlier. Same thing happens towards the end when Claire escapes driving away
and we see the door swinging suggesting Norman has also just passed. In that
same scene we have a beautiful moment that only Zemeckis can pull off: Claire
gets in the wrong car and then glances at the mirror revealing the car she
needs to be in. When she leaves the car, Zemeckis stays on the mirror creating
two moments. She opens the door and we see Norman’s shadow getting up and when
she shuts the door we see her already running to the other car. It’s just
beautiful to watch.
Another thing I would like to emphasize is Zemeckis’s disregard for physics and I mean
this in a good way. He treats the camera as if it could be anywhere. One of the
most noticeable is when Claire is immobilized on the floor and Norman kneels
down closer to Claire and the camera just goes underneath the floor to frame
them appropriately. This also happens just before the mirror shot I mentioned
earlier. The camera is outside as Claire gets in the car and then it seamlessly
gets inside the car framing Claire below the steering wheel. I think some of
these shots are achieved in post production with the aid of CGI.
I could talk a lot more about other scenes but there is one I have to talk about
which is of course the most memorable sequence in the film. The rising water in
the bathtub while Claire is powerless to do anything. This is the film’s water
cooler moment without any doubt. The sequence is a masterpiece on its own.
Again Zemeckis shines. The shot compositions, the editing, the music and above
all the sound mixing. The sound mixing does a lot of work throughout the entire
film but in this scene it shines. When Claire is practically submerged we begin
to hear what Claire is hearing. The echoing sound underwater is superb. No
music is needed to add tension to the scene. The subtle metal sounds echoing as
she struggles to survive work beautifully. The final moment when she manages to
lift her foot with the aid of the water and strike down the plug chain and yank it free draining
the water slowly is the perfect ending. Again, you can feel the build up until
that moment but you never know exactly what the scene is building up to. This
is Zemeckis at his finest. You can notice similar sequences in other films of
his but that is for another day. Nothing is by chance. That is why Zemeckis is who he is.
To sum it up “What Lies Beneath” is visually brilliant to say the least. Filmmakers
need to watch his work to learn and inspire themselves. I certainly do.
I also love how Zemeckis directs his actors. As I mentioned earlier, both
Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford are brilliant but they are not brilliant on
their own. They can thank Zemeckis a lot for their performances. The dialogue
scenes are handled perfectly and you notice that not a single moment or line is
overlooked or disregarded and this happens in every single scene. The chemistry
that shines through has Zemeckis written all over it. You just know that these
people spent hours debating the direction a scene should take, the beats of the
dialogue etc and of course the editing just fine tunes any missed timed lines
or silences.
Speaking of editing there isn’t much I can say considering the film doesn’t rely to much
on it since Zemeckis creates a lot of one shot scenes. However it is still
there and it works extremely well. I think the film is well paced and 2 hours
go by in a blink. The sound editing is as I mentioned before flawless as well.
And speaking of sound I cannot write this review without mentioning Alan
Silvestri’s score. He has worked in most if not all of Robert Zemeckis’ films.
The score is fresh and unique. Like all composers some of Silvestri’s scores
sound a like but that is not the case in “What Lies Beneath”. This music will scare
you on its own. I mentioned that Robert Zemeckis pays tribute to Hitchcock in
this film and one of the ways he does that is through Alan Silvestri’s music.
It’s big and dramatic and also suspenseful and almost silent at times.
Sometimes it does feel like I’m watching an Alfred Hicthcock film scored by Bernard
Hermann but again with its own signature.
“What Lies Beneath” is an unmissable film in my view. If you haven’t watched it
please do so now. It will cater to any audience. Those who want to just enjoy
it and those who also want learn from it. Again I could talk for hours and
hours about this work but I think I’ve said enough.
If you had the patience to sit through this entire review and listen to what I had
to say I thank you and I wish you a wonderful day.
If you would like to see more reviews like this please leave a comment below.
See you later!
