Discussion: Why The Awakening Deserves a Chance *Spoilers*

See enough films and you’re bound to get it wrong every now and then.  Critics and those who fancy themselves as such *ahem* are not impervious to missing the point sometimes.  Having said that, I need to put my hands up with regards to The Awakening, as going into a second screening, I was ready to label director and co-writer Nick Murphy a charlatan himself.  However, what I found was that once aware of the twists, the film holds up and, while there is some deception at hand, it’s far sounder than I (and many professional critics) gave it credit for.

Director Nick Murphy discusses the finer points of The Awakening at Curzon Mayfair 12 November 2011

It may well be that knowing where the story goes allows for enhanced concentration on the details.  For a first viewing there is a lot that is revealed within a short amount of time: Thomas is a ghost, Florence lived in the house, her father being Tom’s father as well, her father murdering her own mother, him attempting to kill Florence, actually killing Tom and finally killing himself. All the while visual connections are being made onscreen, such as the shoes, the shattered glass and the toy rabbit. It’s a lot to process initially, especially given the chaos of the unfolding vision.  Perhaps it is too much too quickly, but it’s hard to disagree with an approach that rewards further viewings. In fact, a highlight of a second time around is Imelda Staunton’s performance.  It’s so nuanced that it takes on an entirely different feel once the twist is known. The look on her face in the moment after Florence speaks to Tom for the first time is perfection.

For his part, in discussion Murphy comes across as perceptive and honest. He immediately owns up to his love of The Orphanage instead of pretending that the influence is non-existent.  One gets the sense that he approaches film-making from an audience’s perspective and displays a genuine desire to provide cinema worth discussing.  With regards to the twists in The Awakening, Murphy explained himself thusly:

“I would rather leave the cinema thinking that really wasn’t my sort of thing, but at least it was something.  So I thought let’s make our footprints firm. Let this film know it itself.  Visually let its power, let its complexity, brazen complexity, let that stand. And if that alienates, that’s fine. I’m sorry, that is fine. More often than not, I’m finding people are liking the idea that they’ve got something to talk about in the lobby… we need to give people something to analyse.”

For me, there are some sticking points and I raised them with Murphy.  I’m of the opinion that too often Tom and Maud are keeping up appearances for the benefit of the audience.  Why would Tom lie down to sleep beside the other children? Why do the two of them act so upset and shocked by Florence’s emotional response to seeing the ghosts?  Surely, if their intention is for her to recall the tragic events of her past, they could only be so surprised by such outbursts.  Stemming from that, we see a dejected Tom stating to Maud, “I might as well be dead, like Walter.” Murphy’s response to this is “No one sees Walter because no one wants Walter.” On the surface that makes sense, but assumptions can be made here. Firstly, Maud clearly “wants” her son Tom and one would think that, as lonely as Tom is, he would value the relationship he has with his mother over that with someone he’s not been in contact with for over 20 years. Secondly, ghost stories have some general rules of thumb, such as the souls of the murdered being unable to be at peace.  There’s no reason to believe that Tom’s presence has more to do with being wanted than it does with his unjust death.  Speaking of the red herrings in general, Murphy offered this insight:

“The more salient reason was we were delivering a whodunit with three people in the house and sooner or later you’re gonna say ‘What’s the kid doing there?’ You need to be crafty and that is, was deliberate subterfuge, deliberate deception really.”

“Another example is Tom being frightened of the rabbit doll. I thought, if Tom’s frightened you won’t be thinking it’s Tom. It literally comes down to that, the idea of the game that you have to play. And then were back to, it’s a movie, but in terms of cheating, there isn’t a cheat. I’ve looked and looked and looked and looked. We made sure at script level.”

Personally, I think that the credibility of several instances of deception are debatable. I believe it would be difficult to make a conclusive, airtight case either way. What makes sense for one person may not make sense to another and there is no correct answer.

Another debated matter is the scene where Robert returns to his room and once inside is heard telling someone “she’s downstairs”. Murphy offered up the significance of the scene:

“Mallory was talking to his ghosts and there’s two reasons for it: firstly, I like the idea of galaxies being in close proximity in films and you looking occasionally in to other galaxies, even if the film doesn’t explore that one. Very deliberately, Mallory’s galaxy is only glimpsed in a few ways and actually his story doesn’t quite end. I always think there’s another 20 minutes in order to finish Mallory’s story.”

One could take the view that an underdeveloped story arc has no place in a film, while another may find it a stroke of brilliance.  It’s unusual to have such a strand that has no payoff, but whether it works or not is certainly open for debate. I do like the idea, in theory, but in execution it feels unfulfilling.  There are other unresolved matters relating to Robert, however.  The most blatant is his stutter in the first third of the film which disappears somewhere in the middle.  Perhaps Murphy has an explanation for this, but after two viewings I cannot see it on the screen.

Finally, there is the matter of Florence’s fate.  The film hints that she did not survive the poisoning, but I feel this is simply another instance of misdirection.  Regardless of what the film does to push that idea, the fact is that if she is dead, she is entirely unaware of her status. She mentions writing another book and generally carries on like a perfectly living person.  For her to be dead and unaware would mean Robert playing along with her delusion and would bring the film full into The Sixth Sense territory, which I doubt Murphy would do, given the Tom twist already owes heavily to Shyamalan’s masterpiece.  The film does nothing to suggest that a spirit may not realise it has passed and there’s little to support the idea that Florence is in such a state.

With his first feature film, Nick Murphy has certainly achieved what he set out to.  As a genuine fan of the genre, it will be interesting to see what lessons he takes away from The Awakening and the feedback it has received.  Regardless of which side of the argument one takes on the plot devices used here, I feel The Awakening deserves to be given a chance.  It may still be too ambitious for its own good, but there is a lot of great work to appreciate throughout, even if it takes a couple viewings to be able to pick up on it all.