THE OTHERS: Connections between Literature and the Film

The Others is a 2001 psychological/supernatural horror film written, directed and scored by Alejandro Amenábar. I was 11 years old, but I clearly remember the day when I decided to rent this movie because I had been told by my friends that it was a must-see movie— and yes! they were absolutely right.

For those who may not know The Others, the storyline of the movie portrays the life of Grace Stewart—role performed by Nicole Kidman, who also plays the character of Virginia Woolf in The Hours— a devout Roman Catholic mother who lives with her two small children, Anne and Nicholas, in a remote country house in the British Crown Dependency of Jersey, in the immediate aftermath of World War II.  The children have an uncommon disease, characterized by photosensitivity, so their lives are structured around a series of complex rules designed to protect them from inadvertent exposure to sunlight. The new arrival of three servants at the house — an aging nanny and servant named Mrs. Bertha Mills, an elderly gardener named Mr. Edmund Tuttle, and a young mute girl named Lydia — coincides with a number of odd events that will be happening through the storyline.

Ironically enough is the fact that in the story, Anne and Nicholas, are not completely conscious about what is happening in the outside word, given that they have been alienated from society by their own mother, Grace—decision that is justified in the film because of their disease. In fact, they are all, as a family, alienated because it’s their own choice, I believe; they live far away from the city, which was considered to be the place of technology, full of chaos, “where you lose yourself.” Moreover, main events in history such as the I World War (1914-1918) and the Market Crush (1929) had already taken place; they were still living under the influence of modernism though. But, it seems that under Grace’ instruction, these kids are not fully aware of all these changes led by modernism that we’ve been talking about in classes.

For instance, philosophers like Darwin, Marx, Freud, and Saussure must have been completely banned in their lessons. Grace, as the devout Roman Catholic she was, would have never allowed her children to question or criticize God—there is a scene in which Anne is asked to pray for hours as way of punishment because of her disrespectful behavior. The role of Literature, which was being considered as a new way of expression by creating a new vision of the world, was restricted and just for instruction in this particular case. 

In connection with the concept of fragmentation—which basically points to the idea that we all perceive fragments of reality; therefore, everything we experience is adjusted with our own beliefs—we may say that during the storyline Grace and the children have a different perception of what is happening inside their house (there are many signs in the story which lead us to think, as an audience, that there must be more characters that we don’t see—Ghosts). Because of the way Grace was raised and the kind of instruction she was given, she refused the idea of thinking that ghosts may be ‘playing around.’ Her perception of reality because of her beliefs is that there must be something else. On the contrary, the children have another perspective, which completely differs from their mother’s point of view—there is another idea that I would like to portray as well concerning the same topic, but I have to mention another fact first.

Moreover, Kidman’s character is going to experience what an epiphany is—concept that have been portrayed in Woolf’s and Joyce’ works. As we all may know, epiphany is considered to be a moment where a character experiences self-understanding or illumination. By the end of the movie, Grace experiences this revelation when she realizes that after all these several odd events that were occurring inside her house, the ghosts were actually herself and her children—I’m sorry to tell you the end of the story if you hadn’t watched the movie, but I have to mention it!

Regarding this revelation in the movie is that I think I am able to establish an interesting connection—at least for me—between the film and the topics of being and fragmentation. As an audience, we have this perspective that the characters are facing a terrifying situation—not to mention how scary it could be to see a ghost—and just in a matter of seconds, after this revelation in which we realize that the protagonists were actually dead, the storyline changes 180° degrees; therefore, the perspective we have as an audience changes as well—who were really the intruders in the house? Who were really the ghosts in the end?  From this point, it's that we may say that reality can’t be objective and it really varies depending on the point of view.

In addition, as explained by the end of the movie, at some point Kidman’s character chose to believe that she was alive after murdering her two children and committing suicide because she was convinced that God, in his infinite mercy, would give her another chance to start again—she chose to be believe, between this ‘to be or not to be’ thinking, she wasn’t dead. 

Thank you for reading this post and I hope you can share your opinion with me in order to exchange more ideas. Please find enclosed a link of this scene in which I can approach you to this amazing moment in the movie.