By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Stacie Passon
Starring: Alexandra Daddario | Anna Nugent | Crispin Glover | Ian Toner | Joanne Crawford | Paula Malcomson | Peter Coonan | Sebastian Stan | Taissa Farmiga
Country: united_states
Year: 2019
Running time: 90
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5952138/reference
Michael says: “I must meekly confess that I watched this curious modern gothic film adapted from a Shirley Jackson tale because I have developed a bit of a crush on Sebastian Stan (The Winter Solder from the Marvel Universe). However, I am very glad that I did because what I didn’t realize until the credits rolled at the conclusion of the movie that it was the directorial follow-up to Stacie Passon’s Buried Treasure nominee, CONCUSSION. While perhaps not so skillful an adaptation as the recent SHIRLEY, which was more of a biopic about Ms. Jackson told in a similar style as her gothic stories, WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE did a very nice job of capturing the tense and eerie feeling of Ms. Jackson’s work.
“The story revolves around two sisters, and their wheelchair-bound uncle, the lone survivors of the Blackwood family, shunned by nearly all of the rest of the town’s residents, just as the Blackwood patriarch had shunned them. The family suffered a mysterious tragedy several years past, when someone poisoned the majority of the Blackwoods, including their father, mother, younger brother, and aunt, by sprinkling arsenic on the blackberries served for dessert. Older daughter Constance didn’t take sugar, and so wasn’t poisoned; younger daughter Mary Katherine (Merricat) had been sent to her bedroom without dinner, and so wasn’t poisoned; and Uncle Julian, who only took some sugar, was left paralyzed but not killed. Constance, who prepared the meal, was assumed to be responsible, and so the family was further rejected by the nearby villagers, and the three were left alone, by themselves, in the Blackwood estate. Merricat, fascinated by witchcraft, and akin to her father in her disdain for the outside world beyond her sister, casts little spells by burying objects around the grounds of the estate to keep them protected. Constance is sweet and keeps the house running, the two sisters devoted only to each other, while tolerating, Merricat reluctantly, Constance with good humor, Uncle Julian who is obsessed with the night the family was killed.
“Into this protective bubble comes young, handsome cousin Thomas, a smooth talker, sure of his own authority and ‘rightness’ merely because of his gender. He quickly charms Constance, threatens Uncle Julian with the caring thought that he needs to be institutionalized, and has no patience for Merricat, and her odd ways, and her supreme dislike of this invading presence. Constance waivers between the two, and Merricat, feeling threatened, as Thomas begins to smoke her father’s pipe, dress in her father’s clothes, and starts to come between her and Constance. She decides to take action.The film spirals upwards into a maelstrom of hatred and violence with an appropriate over-the-top conclusion.
“The acting is great, with Taissa Farmiga handling the angry young woman, Merricat, whose frustration and rage bubbles over like an overheated cauldron. Alexandra Daddario, whose best known recent acting credit is probably BAYWATCH, certainly is a beauty, but she brings a complex blankness to Constance. At first you might think she is a Stepford wife, whose only role is to keep the peace in the castle alive and serving meals, but once Thomas appears, her pleasant facade is tested. Crispin Glover is remarkably restrained and effective as Uncle Julian, and Sebastian Stan fills the aggressively male ‘savior’ wonderfully.
“Some have criticized the adaptation as it adds a layer of male abuse that spawns female rage into story that didn’t seem to need to justify some of the young women’s somewhat questionable actions. I found the film fun and refreshing, with Passon clearly adding her own message to the film that resonated in a way that still, even after the ‘me too’ movement, has merit. 4 cats“
Philip says: “What should have been a suspenseful and creepy tale, ends up being predictable and dull. 2 cats“
