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| Courtesy of MVD Visual |
A classic ghost story about a governess
who cares for two children on a remote estate at the turn of the century who
grows suspicious the grounds and the children are being haunted, it was originally
made into The Innocents in 1961 before being remade almost as many times
around the world as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Shelley’s Frankenstein
or Stoker’s Dracula.
Amassing
nine takes (The Turning being the latest) as well the Netflix series The
Haunting of Bly Manor, this single story has been done to death with
no end in sight. Truly a thing that won’t
leave, it is the ghost the cinema world can’t seem to exorcise. In fact I’d expect there to be five more of
these down the line. The question is
does this particular Through the Shadow Brazilian take on The Turn of
the Screw manage to set this one apart from the pack?
In Walter Lima Jr.’s hands, Through
the Shadow is picturesque with lovely cinematography, costume design and
good performances from the ensemble cast.
With some minor changes made to the story, we meet Laura (Virginia
Cavendish) mourning the recent death of her mother who takes up a new job as a
governess looking after Elisa (Mel Maia) and her brother Antonio (Xande Valois)
on their ornate wealthy estate grounds. Also
around is Dona Geraldina (Ana Lucia Torre) who is personable but surreptitious
about the mansion’s past. Within days of
residence, Laura notices something is afoot when a mysterious figure keeps
reappearing on the rooftop or front door, touching on fears of child kidnapping
with an ever-growing sense of the supernatural and uncanny.
Readapted by Lima Jr. and Adriana
Falcao, the film is lensed handsomely by longtime Lima Jr. collaborator Pedro
Farkas who shoots the interior scenes in dim near-monochromatic sepia tones
with soft hints of color, giving the film an eerie aged atmosphere. The film’s soundtrack co-written by Lui
Coimbra and Marocs Suzano lends an unsettling ambience to the strange and
possibly otherworldly events real or imagined that are taking place
onscreen.
Combined with the film’s sumptuous
production design, this version of The Turn of the Screw ends up being among
the more hair-raising ones of the lot with a myriad of encroaching threats
closing in on the protagonist. Performances
are also excellent with Virginia Cavendish exuding authority tinged with fear
and vulnerability as the governess dealing with two children, played brilliantly
by its child actors, who may not be what they seem.
Like A Christmas Carol, this is
a ghostly period story based on a legendary novella which invariably lends
itself to cinematic adaptation after readaptation around the globe seemingly
for all time. Something of a subgenre
unto itself for the sheer number of times these stories have been revisited on
the big and small screens, the defining work of Henry James’ writing seen
through the eyes of a longstanding singular auteur like Walter Lima Jr. is an
interesting take on the timeless tale of horror.
The quintessential creepy child story for all
others to learn from and respect, The Turn of the Screw is a great story
that makes for a mostly good film with Through the Shadow, one which doesn’t
quite usurp the grandeur of Jack Clayton’s The Innocents but manages to
unnerve in its own unique manner.
--Andrew Kotwicki
