Highly Overrated But Still Good

Captivating movie !

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Set in 1950s Tuscany this is an insipid Gothic drama. Verena (Emilia Clarke) is a timid governess hired by sculptor Klaus (Marton Csokas) to deal with his son Jakob who has not spoken since his mother Malvina (Caterina Munro) died some months earlier.Verena's tries to get through to Jakob but Verena is convinced that Malvina's spirit somehow lives on and is trying to get through to Jakob though the walls of the castle.Klaus comes across as a bit of brute, emotionally damaged himself who seduces Verena who is willing to pose for the sculptor in the nude.The film is atmospheric but due to pacing problems rather inert.

Not a thriller/horror/mystery as it is billed, but a beautiful, luscious Gothic.Emilia is gorgeous and talented as always and the supporting cast does a very good job with their roles.Moody, atmospheric, lush period Gothic.If you engage and make it to the end, it will leave you thoughtful - as all the best gothics do.Daphne DuMaurier and the Bronte sisters would gobble it up!

It is a little confusing. I don't think everybody who saw it understood at the first attempt. Otherwise, it would have not received such a low rating. The film failed to give the explanations in an understandable way. Only if you are good enough to figure it out everything by yourself like by observing the characteristic behaviours, dialogues and scenes that including illusion/dreams, then it can be considered a good one. So, comparing to the book it was based on, I don't know if the book complicates its readers the same way.In the opening, a mother breathes her last before taking an oath from his not to speak a word till she returns. Very unusual scene, because she died by the side of her son and nobody else present, like her husband. Then a new nurse arrives to take care of him. She was confident that she can make him talk again, but later she begins to know more about the place and the people. Unexplainable things happen. Well, the film says it all, but it's hard for us to get the details. Following, a twist comes, then everything back to normal, like nothing ever happened.All the actors were okay. I particularly watched it for Emilia Clarke. I loved the location, the atmosphere. Not a typical seaside sunny Italian place, but shot at the misty medieval house. In the beginning I thought it was like another version of 'Miracle Worker'. In the midway, I thought of 'Hidden Face'. None were right. But I only got it when I googled about it after the watch and realised there was no dream sequences at all, especially coming to the climax part. All are real, and which is a twist.Maybe it need to be watched twice, particularly after googling about what part you did not get. So it was like 'Skeleton Key' meets 'Safe Haven'. I don't want to say anything further to spoil your watch if you're yet to see it. Just watch it and make your own opinion whether you liked it or not, but try to understand it first what happens at the end. Now I've changed my rating slightly, yet the film was so old fashioned. If it had came a couple of decades ago, would have considered a best one. There are people who love such film, even today, like maybe the old guys. So it is for the selected people.5.5/10

A thriller with Emilia Clarke? Sounds good to me. But after ninety minutes there was only deception left. There is no way you could qualify this movie as a thriller so I wonder why IMDb puts it in this category. It's a Gothic drama, and a boring one. It's all nicely shot and the acting isn't that bad but the story is oh so boring. You constantly hope something interesting will happen but let me spoil it for you, nothing significant to make the story better happens. Emilia Clarke is a delight to watch in Game Of Thrones but in this movie she can do whatever she wants, if the story is bad you can put whatever actor in it, it still is a bad movie. I thought about stop watching this movie after an hour but I sat it through in the hope something would change but unfortunately it didn't. Boring drama.