Crimson Peak

Compared to some of my friends it is actually pretty rare that i watch a movie. i often lack the patience to sit through a whole movie and so i really choose very carefully which movie i deem "worthy" to go and see in the cinema. Last year the 2 movies i really wanted to see in the cinema were "Only Lovers Left Alive" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" which both fully met my expectations. This year i was excited about "The Imitation Game" but was pretty disappointed by it. (To make it clear ~ i am talking feature films here and i don't take into account documentary-style movies like "20.000 Days on Earth", "I Am Divine" or "B-Movie"!) And then it was Crimson Peak i really wanted to see on the big screen. I really waited for this one! 

When it finally opened Mid October it turned out a pain in the ass to actually get a chance to see it in the cinema. No joke! One cinema only showed it at ridiculously late hours and only on very selected dates. Another cinema is not to reach without a car. The third cinema actually is a drive-in cinema, so again no option without a car. I was seriously frustrated by this. I wanted to go with a friend and a colleague. It was simply not possible. I was getting pretty nervous about it because i was afraid it will be out of the cinema very quickly. Seriously, for once i wanna see a movie in the cinema and then this. 

My colleague and me grabbed the chance today. My friend wasn't up to come along on an early Sunday evening. I think it might have been my only chance to see it and so i went with my colleague. And i didn't regret it for one moment!

The movie is visually beyond stunning and as a lover of all things Goth and Victorian i was utterly delighted by the elaborate and lavish settings and costumes. It is a feast for the eyes and i was entranced by the scenery and atmosphere. Nothing seemed cheap or artificial. It was all so very beautiful. 

The story was true Gothic Romance/Horror. It certainly isn't for everyone (what is, anyway?) but it met my taste exactly. I have read several people saying they could guess the plot/the secret very early on. Maybe i am just not too skilled in this because i don't watch many movies but then again it didn't really matter to me. I was captivated by so many things that i could not really waste time to guess what it is that is wrong with the Sharpes. 

The movie is very slow-paced and i think many people in this day and age simply don't have time/patience for this anymore. Everything is so super hectic these days and very much into your face. Because of technology everything is fast, action-filled, always available. We are in a constant state of sensory overload and i assume some people will be bored by a movie like this. Well, i ain't. I soaked it all in. I simply reveled in the colours, the costumes, the furniture, the visual beauty. 

Interestingly enough i was also expecting more horror but i wasn't expecting it because i wanted to see it but i thought there will be more horror. I was overjoyed there wasn't :) Basically you see all the ghosts in the trailer already. It wasn't about shock moments, it was more about the creeps. Fantastic! Just like a good, may i say old-fashioned?, horror story should be! I had several moments when shivers went down my spine. There is this distinct difference between being startled by pure effects like something suddenly appearing or a loud sound which makes you jump or scream and the subtle horror, the creeps which have more the effect of paralysing and taking your breath away. The latter is much more effective and longer lasting! Modern people may yawn but as i said above, modern people are numbed! 

The movie took its time to introduce its main characters and you weren't thrown into the actual story head over heels. There is this British aristocrat and his sister coming from the Old World to the New World and the high society ladies are charmed by him and his title which they actually don't quite understand. Thomas Sharpe and his sister Lucille have an exotic charm and a noble attitude which fascinates the ladies and makes them gossip. On the other hand it turns off the gents who value the American way of life where they take pride in having worked hard for their wealth and positions. As Edith's father says, it is not inherited by birth but hard-earned. 

Edith is introduced as a nonconformist, pretty independent young woman who is not as easily impressed as the other high society ladies. Whereas they gossip about the baronet from England (quite obviously impressed by the aristocratic title) she shrugs it off as someone who exploits people for his own comfort. She is also not interested in going to the ball where the baronet and his sister will be but prefers to stay at home to read and write. 

But then Thomas Sharpe appears at her house and there is only so much resistance to his charms and so she ends up at the ball anyway. When they make their entrance Lucille Sharpe just plays the piano in a stunning, breathtaking red dress! I actually whispered the words "that DRESS!!!" When the foreign guest is asked to dance a waltz and show the ladies how to dance it he chooses Edith as his partner. Loooooong faces with the other ladies, ha! Edith's father watches with suspicion. he is not amused by the way the things turn. Of course there is an air of menace about the Sharpe siblings, esp. about Lucille. Thomas is hiding it well under his irresistible charm and charisma. Edith is slowly falling for him and who could blame her? He looks fantastic, he is charming and interesting.

Her father engages a private detective and he finds out something which finally confirms Edith's father in his unease feelings about the Sharpes and he makes it very clear to them that he expects them to leave and he gives the order to Thomas to break the heart of his daughter that night. Which is a very cruel thing to do even though he does it to protect his daughter. But it would have been better to fill in his daughter in what he found out. The audience is of course also not let in the secret. Mr Cushing cannot reveal anything anymore because he gets murdered. That is one of the more graphic scenes in the movie. But it is followed by a very emotional and touching scene in the mortuary where Edith needs to identify her father. She is worried about his cold hand and covers it with a sheet. That little scene was so beautiful.

And then finally they arrive at the house. Oh that house! A derelict beauty which has seen better days. Of course there are obvious parallels to the house Usher. A decaying house where brother and sister live. An eerie place. The crumbling mansion being an outside reflection of the rotting insides of their inhabitants. Very much like the picture of Dorian Gray reflecting more and more the depravity of the one depicted whereas the real Dorian Gray stays beautiful. An inner sickness, madness, depravity, evilness made visible by the ruinous state of the mansion. By proxy. But i also think there is a meaning in the change of seasons we see. When they arrive there it is obviously autumn because there are leaves falling through the damaged roof of the house (will you please be so kind to turn a blind eye to the fact that there is simply no tree close to the house? Let alone high enough to let the leaves fall through the roof? thank you! ;) ) and later on it is winter and the snow falls into the house. For me it carried the meaning that it gets colder, nastier, icier. And hey, you know what? Even if that is not what was intented by the director, it is what it means to me and isn't that wonderful? Art speaking to you and creating a meaning for you? Marvellous, no?
The story is told on many levels and layers. It is not a pure narrative movie. And in a way, just as Edith is susceptible to ghosts, the viewer must be susceptible to all the different stimuli which are to find in this movie. So on the surface it may be an obvious story which, as i said earlier, several viewers figured out pretty quickly and then obviously lost interest in the movie as such. But the loss is on them. Because the movie has so much more to offer than its basic plot. It addresses and carries all the big and everlasting issues of mankind such as love, hatred, trust, fear, jealousy, envy, fear of loss, insecurity, vulnerability ... it is all there! The main characters aren't one dimensional. I think the real story is told in the subtext. And everything in the movie provides a part of the puzzle, the characters, the mansion, the colours, the costumes, the ghosts, and if you are open to it they will communicate their message. i am afraid symbolism is pretty much lost on many people today. We understand pictograms (well, okay, admittedly, occasionally i personally don't understand some of those, hehe), we understand emoticons, we understand LOL and BFF and PMSL and so on. In the past though people knew the meaning of flowers, of colours .. all this seems so lost on modern people. I mean, imagine that people could look at .. say Millais' "Ophelia" and understand the meaning of the different flowers he painted. In all honesty, I don't know it. I looked it up but cannot really memorise it. And today people will most likely think "oh my, she drowns with a bouquet, nice" if they notice the flowers at all. I think that is why people say a movie like this is boring, predictable, a waste of time. Or for instance with "Only Lovers Left Alive" where people bitched that nothing really happens in this movie. Wrong! There happens a damn lot IF you are able to SEE it or feel it!
As with everything, it is a matter of taste and personal preferences. And it is absolutely pointless and a real waste of time and energy to get into these online battles of "that movie was the biggest crap i have ever seen in my life" versus "that is the best movie i have ever seen and you are an idiot". If someone thinks it was crap, okay .. then the movie wasn't for them, simple as that. I am so glad and thankful that movies like this one are still getting made because most of the films being made simply aren't for me. Seriously, the previews that were shown in our cinema before the movie left me gobsmacked. Those 3 trailers easily rank very high on the biggest crap that i have ever seen. But i am sure those movies will find their audience. Each to their own. I know there are people out there like me who inhabit a similar universe to mine. Soul mates, kindred spirits ... ooooooooh, that is it .. the ghosts in the movie are more like spirits! That is a much better word for those manifestations.
So yeah, there are kindred spirits out there and i am happily contend to know they are there. And now and again there is a movie made for "us" while there are gazillion movies made for "them". I spent some most wonderful 120 minutes in the cinema and i am really delighted.
Of course i have also found myself questioning things and pondering over the story. Asking myself why they do or don't do this and that. For example why do they stay in that house? What keeps them there?

But i think this is simply the wrong approach. I think it is because it is NOT about the story as such but about the deeper meanings which i mentioned above. I can really live with that.
As for the acting, i loved Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain in their roles. Especially Jessica Chastain was fantastic! I cannot really warm up to Mia Wasikowska though. I wasn't too impressed by her in "Alice in Wonderland". She was totally overshadowed by Anne Hathaway which is amazing because The White Queen was a secondary role but AH really upstaged Miss Wasikowska.
She was more convincing in "Only Lovers Left Alive" even though the character she played was an annoying one :)
In Crimson Peak she was the least convincing of the three main characters, imo. She had some moments but all in all i think she stayed somewhat flat.
I was extremely thankful for the little dog, don't laugh! It was a little innocent soul in all that decay and doom. A living being unaffected by all the goings-on and with no hidden agenda. I just loved that he was there. But then i find comfort, peace and solace in the presence of animals in real life so that might explain my affection for that little cast member.