Movie Review

For My Film Criticism Class, We Had To Review A Movie...

Let's get a little scared with What Lies Beneath.

Chris Schafer
TA Laura Eldred
English 42 Film Criticism
February 7, 2002

A Review of What Lies Beneath
February 2, 2002 on Video on Cable TV

On a stormy Saturday night, you sit on the couch all alone in your apartment watching an UNC-Chapel Hill college basketball game on television. There are two seconds left in the game with the score tied. Your emotions run high, since we might actually win a game. All of the sudden, the television and all lights in the apartment go out, and the telephone rings. As you answer the telephone “hello,” you hear a scream on the other end, and then silence. Immediately, you hang the phone up, and just as you do, you hear foot steps in the kitchen. As you tighten up in a ball to protect yourself, the steps appear to be approaching you at a rapid rate. With an unfamiliar shadow impending on you, the last thing you remember is screaming, “help!”
When thinking about this scenario, visions of a ghost story pop into your mind. Events like this are only supposed to happen in the movies, right? Normally so, and a movie that excellently portrays ghost interest is the suspense thriller What Lies Beneath. What Lies Beneath is not an exact duplicate of the previous example, but it follows the same principle; a ghost is haunting an innocent woman’s life. In What Lies Beneath, directed by Robert Zemeckis, Claire Spencer, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, and Dr. Norman Spencer, played by Harrison Ford, live in an old house owned by Dr. Spencer’s late father. Emotionally, Claire is going through a lot in her life: a recent car accident, her only daughter going to college, new neighbors, and the refurbishing of her new home. Claire begins hearing noises and seeing faces in her home. She believes her new neighbor has been murdered, and is haunting her. As unexpected plot twists unfold, all havoc breaks loose. The actors, Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, reverse their normal roles in this film. Normally, Ford is the savior, the good guy, but here he is transformed to the other side of the fence. Pfeiffer, normally laid back and calm, is brash in her role here. The emotions ride high in this film as you are continually sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to occur next, as Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer each do an excellent job in portraying character qualities that turn an unbelievable suspenseful story into reality.
Harrison Ford deserves vast praise for his job of portraying Dr. Norman Spencer. Imagine you, yourself, a brilliant scientist who has worked your entire life towards a goal, and when you finally get the chance to revolutionize your goal, your world comes crashing down? Ford portrays this part perfectly. Ford captures the workaholic scientist who is determined to invent a temporary paralysis drug, and will not let anything stop him from establishing this goal. Throughout the movie, he constantly works. Rarely a scene passes, when his laptop is not on, he is not in his lab or office, or he does not mention the fact he has work to do.
Ford is an arrow; his mind is set on one thing and will not let anything get in his way to stop him. One problem, he screws up along the way. A happily married man encounters a younger woman, Madison Elizabeth Frank, of similar beauty as his wife, and he cannot resist her. In any case, this spells trouble. The plot has to twist from this point on, or else the movie would be pointless. Ford is able to bring about this transition in the movie from being a devoted husband who supposedly never lied, to having to fill in holes he has created in his story. When Ford claims he has never encountered Frank, you see the innocent look on his face, the fact that he means everything he says, and we cannot deem him to be untruthful. He digs himself deeper and deeper in a hole, but once again, the calm and cool Harrison Ford is able to make his point, the only point, just like he has done in previous movies Air Force One, and the Indiana Jones films. His character transition occurs, and Ford plays a role he has not done in the past, one the audience is wary of and distrusts. Ford’s transition is exemplified precisely as Pfeiffer peers to see if he is in the shower, but instead, he comes up behind her and grabs her. While holding her, you can see the hatred Ford has in his eyes toward Pfeiffer. With this disdainful look in his eyes, it establishes the fact he can no longer be seen as a trustworthy, kind man.
Playing and establishing one character in a movie is hard enough, but in What Lies Beneath, Michelle Pfeiffer portrays superbly not one, but two challenging parts, with great degrees of difficulty. Pfeiffer plays the role of Claire Spencer, and partially the role of Madison Elizabeth Frank in certain scenes when she interacts with Ford, with such engagement; you become scared of her next move. At the onset, Pfeiffer establishes Claire as a normal mother. She becomes emotionally distraught when her daughter goes to college, and begins to feel lost in the world around her. Since Claire is going through a normal phase for mothers, it is thought of at first that all the strange happenings in her home are false.
How can a ghost really be haunting an honest woman? Through repeated occurrences, it is evident that a ghost is haunting, and Pfeiffer is able to transform herself into the role of Madison with the only distinctive difference between the two of them being their eye color. Pfeiffer is able to pull it off because she brings out the cocky side of Madison. She shows the revenge and hatred that Madison has developed toward Norman, and is willing to do anything in her power to get retribution by using Claire’s body. When Pfeiffer is playing Claire, she is more relaxed and laid back. Ford is able to push her around and do as he pleases. But, when Pfeiffer becomes Madison there is no stepping on her toes, she has a smart mouth and is quick witted with her actions toward Norman. With whatever she does, she is in power. If it is not evident at first, it is clearly exemplified when Norman comes home from work, and Claire has already become Madison. Pfeiffer has mauled Ford with assertiveness from the moment he walked in the door, and she now has him pinned down on the table. She is on the verge of killing him, until Pfeiffer confronts something she does not expect to see, and an unforeseen plot twist occurs. It is evident Pfeiffer has an sense of brashness in her since she has been a wicked woman before in Batman Returns, but here she takes it to another level, where she jumps from one character, totally opposite of Madison, to someone else.
If you do not like suspense movies and would rather watch action, see this one. If you do not like Harrison Ford or Michelle Pfeiffer, see this one. If you like wondering what is going to happen next to characters, and like watching movies where you cannot predict the outcome, see this one. The portrayal of the characters through splendid acting is reason enough to see What Lies Beneath, and this makes it engaging, keeping you on the edge of your seat. See it to broaden your horizons on movies you view, and so that you can catch something suspenseful and not be left in the dark wondering, did UNC-Chapel Hill win the basketball game? Or better yet, did you survive?

 

Back To Portfolio Page