"The Others" is a gothic supernatural psychological horror film directed by Alejandro Amenábar and starring Nicole Kidman in the lead role. Released in 2001, this movie presents a thought-provoking narrative filled with suspense, mystery, and surprise.
The movie takes place in the aftermath of World War II. It centers around Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman), who lives in a remote country house in the Channel Islands with her two photosensitive children, Anne and Nicholas. The kids suffer from a rare disease characterized by an extreme sensitivity to light, which necessitates the family to live in near darkness and isolation.
As the story unfolds, Grace hires three new servants: Mrs. Bertha Mills, Mr. Edmund Tuttle, and a mute girl named Lydia, who replace the previous servants who disappeared without a trace. Strangely, the new servants already seem to know a lot about the house, which Grace finds slightly unnerving.
The plot intensifies as Anne, the older of the two children, starts claiming to have seen ghosts roaming around the house. Grace initially dismisses these claims as childish fantasies. However, the line between the reality and the imagined begins to blur as she starts hearing strange noises and observing unexplainable occurrences, such as curtains being mysteriously drawn or doors being unlocked.
The climax of the story is reached when the family discovers a book of post-mortem photography in the attic, which contains a picture of their servants, revealing them to be spirits of the dead. Horrified, Grace confronts the servants, who tell her that they are indeed ghosts, but also that she and her children are not alive either.
In the final moments of the film, it is revealed that Grace, driven to despair by her children's illness and the absence of her husband, had killed her children and then herself. The ghosts that Anne claimed to see were actually the house's new living inhabitants. The dramatic irony is that the 'others', initially believed to be the spirits haunting the family, are in reality the living humans who are being perceived as ghostly apparitions by Grace and her family.
"The Others" ends on a somber note, with Grace and her children continuing to reside in the house, cohabiting with the spirits of the previous servants, seemingly accepting their fate. It is a chilling tale of perception, reality, and the thin veil that separates life and death.
The movie stands out for its narrative twists, atmospheric setting, and haunting performances, particularly by Nicole Kidman. It challenges traditional horror movie tropes and leaves a lingering impact on its viewers, making them question the nature of their own reality.