The Others

[zenza]

Having received my region 3 copy and having watched the film I would like to discuss the storyline and plot in more detail.

I am left confused with some of the plot elements of the film.

Basically from what I made of it the ending gave me the impression that:

nicole kidman together with the children and housekeepers are actually the ghosts inhabiting the house of a family in modern time. The boy Victor is the kid we see at the end and the old woman described by Anna is the old woman at the end who is trying to contact the ghosts.


Is this what other people made of the storyline?


I would be interested to hear other peoples views to try to make sense of the plot.

[camaj]

That's basically it.

The film is set at the end of the war and the costumes of the others are basically 50's so it's not too long after kidman dies. Her husband is also a ghost

It's not really that complex, the film does a good job of explaining it.

[zenza]

Does anyone else have any other synopsis of the plot?

There are some bits which are confusing like the start of the film and also the bit where:

niccole starts to strangle anne thinking she is an old woman, does that mean she is actually strangling her at the table while the woman tries to gain contact?

Also what is the story behind the housekeepers?

[camaj]

first off:

I'm not sure what you mean but she was strangling her daughter thinking it was the old woman. I think Anne had entered the old womans body. That part isn't really too important.

As for the housekeepers:
They are obviously ghosts. They have been in the house since they died (1890's). However kidman doesn't know this since she or anyone couldn't see them. However once dead they can see the other ghosts. The ghosts know this so leave the house when everyone dies. They come back a day or too later pretending to be looking for work. Kidman knows they can't know but they just make excuses. The only way they could have known is to have been in the house all along.

Any other queries just say

[cervaro]

R1 edition due for release on 14th May. Nothing confirmed extras wise at present, but I guess anamorphic video plus DD5.1 sound (maybe DTS?) at a minimum.

[daveo]

Originally posted by cervaro
(maybe DTS?)

Nope, apparently not :(http://thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54224

[Dear Mr Echo]

I got around to watching this yesterday and thought it was absolutely terrific.
A really good performance from Nicole Kidman - it's a shame more attention has been lavished on her performance in Moulin Rouge than this, in my opinion, far more worthy movie.

The creepy atmosphere (the excellent use of sound in particular) really worked well, even though I watched it mid afternoon. For a non anamorphic transfer the disc has more than acceptable picture quality. To be honest I doubt the picture would be noticeably better with an anamorphic print - perhaps the image was a little soft but nowhere near enough to be distracting. Difficult conditions to capture, like the many foggy scenes, didn't show any signs of artefacting as far as I could see. Combine this with the DTS soundtrack (that it looks like other regions will be missing) and bargain price that this can be bought for I would expect this R3 disc to be in a lot of people's top tens come the end of the year.

No extras on the disc but I will have to wait to see if the R1 version is really worth getting over this version in terms of picture quality.

Andrew

[ac]

Originally posted by daveo


Nope, apparently not :(http://thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54224

Umm, yes.... apparently so! (http://www.dvdtimes.org.uk/index.cgi?page=News&id=2823)

;)

[Nana]

I watched The Changeling on SciFi straight after this and there were some spooky similarities, names of characters, the automatic writing etc. Made me wonder if The Changeling inspired The Others?

[stephen]

Originally posted by camaj
first off:

I'm not sure what you mean but she was strangling her daughter thinking it was the old woman. I think Anne had entered the old womans body. That part isn't really too important.


At the end of the film one of the women at the table says that the old woman has been possessed by the girl

[Dear Mr Echo]

Originally posted by Nana
I watched The Changeling on SciFi straight after this and there were some spooky similarities, names of characters, the automatic writing etc. Made me wonder if The Changeling inspired The Others?

I was just leafing back through the December 2001 edition of Empire last night and in the ludicrously inadequate 'feature' Amenebar says there are quite a few "homages" to the Changeling in the Others.

Andrew

[diydestruction]

watched the other a few nights back... didnt really think much of it really, maybe needs a re-watch?

[bigup]

well, i finally got round to watching this film, got it on R3 a while back, ive been avoiding all "others" threads cos i didnt want anythign to ruin the film.

Have to say i was very impressed, i think without the DTS sound the film would be a let down, DTS rox on this disk, im very pleased i got this movie,

i played the film on my Xwave dvd player and the pic was a lil pixelated, so played it in my sony dvd player and picture was improved alot,

very cool film, will defo have to invite mated over for a treat!