Film: THE WOMAN IN BLACK Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds, Liz White, Janet McTeer, Alisa Khazanova, Tim McMullan, Roger Allam, Daniel Cerqueira, Shaun Dooley, Mary Stockley, Cathy Sara, David Burke, Victor McGuire, Lucy May Barker.
Director: James Watkins
Ronita Torcato
Wilkie Collins'Woman in White was deranged and so is the titular character of this widescreen adpatation of the 1983 horror novel by Susan Hill.
The resemblance stops there because Collins'white ladies died tragically or were traumatised whereas Hills black- clad woman is a malevolent, vindictive ghost who terrorises the inhabitants of a small fogridden village in the moors of northeasten England, driving their children to their deaths.Set in the late 1800s, Hills bestseller was made into a TV film and a stage play and Jane ( X- Men: First Class) Goldmans screenplay written for Watkins'film, develops a narrative that varies a little from that of the source material.
Ms Hill knows her marshland as well as Emily Bronte knew her moors and I daresay The Woman in Black ( which I haven't read) must be full of splendid descriptions of that muchloved English landscape. Never mind if the supernatural genre demands desolate darkness, which helmer Watkins, cinematographer Tim Maurice- Jones, editor Jon Harris, production designer Kave Quinn and art director Paul Ghirardani exploit to the hilt. Not to forget the evocative background music by Marco Beltrami.
Watkins'adaptation comes from the new owners of Englands legendary Hammer horror brand. For Daniel Radcliff, it is his first major film post Harry Potter and it provides him with the opportunity to show off his acting prowess as a widowed young lawyer, Arthur Kipps who leaves behind his his small son Joseph ( Misha Handley, Radcliffes real- life godson) in the care of a nanny ( Jessica Raine ) to travel to a remote village to sort out the papers of Alioce Drablow, a recently deceased client.Kippss wife Stella ( Sophie Stuckey) is the woman in white in flashbacks, which reveal that she had died in childbirth.
We see Kipps on a train chugging past Newcastle ( beautiful Newcastle which you don't get to see in the film) before alighting at his final destination. In the village, he encounters, surly uncommunicative inhabitants, with the exception of h Sam Daily ( Ciaran Hinds, solid ) and his wife, Elizabeth ( Janet McTeer, kooky) Undaunted by the hostility, he works alone in the Drablow house on a brackish marsh which is cut off by high tides, his unease growing when he hears odd sounds and glimpses a strange woman in black.( Liz White as Jennet Humfrye, The Woman in Black) Heavy on atmosphere, the film meanders at a slow pace, which is punctuated by creepy moments.
The film may satisfy those who harbour the un- Biblical belief that the dead with unfinished business ( including suicides and murders) haunt the earth until they are able to rest in peace. But it fails to address religious faith, spirituality and the after- life. No priest is summoned to exorcise the ghost from the haunted house and their midst. Dailys sign of the cross as the film nears its end is a feeble attempt to establish a religious connect.Those who believe in justice and mercy will be dismayed by the incessant victimisation of innocent children.
The Kipp family reunion does nothing to allay doubts and fears inasmuch as the film shows the victory of death and evil over goodness and life. Sheesh. Those who believe in justice and mercy will be dismayed by the incessant victimisation of innocent children. The Kipp family reunion does nothing to allay doubts and fears inasmuch as the film shows the victory of death and evil over goodness and life. Sheesh.