The Ones Below

'THE ONES BELOW': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A British thriller flick, written and directed by David Farr. It stars Clemence Poesy, Stephen Campbell Moore, David Morrissey and Laura Birn. The film is about a couple, that's expecting a child, that gets into severe conflict with another couple, expecting their own child, that lives beneath them. The movie got good reviews from critics, and I enjoyed it as well.

Kate (Poesy) and Justin (Moore) are expecting their first child. A new couple, named Teresa (Birn) and Jon (Morrissey), just moved into the apartment below them; and they're expecting their first baby as well. The two couples meet, and have dinner together. Something goes horribly wrong, and the couples find themselves at great odds with each other.

The film is very slow-building, at first, and that really tried my patience; but once the story really gets going, the movie becomes very interesting. The characters are all really well written, and acted. The film is also nicely stylized, with creepy, and sometimes very unsettling, atmosphere. The twist at the end is not that shocking though (not nearly as much as the filmmakers appear to think), and (again) the first half of the movie is very slow-paced.

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I kept waiting for a twist, or SOMETHING to keep my interest, but it never came. "Gas Light" for a first time mom. The best thing about it was Gene Pitney singing "Take Me Tonight" at the end. Why this song? That was the only unpredictable thing in the entire movie. And the ending was crazy and totally illogical.

Well Acted and Suspenseful Psychological Thriller that is held Down by an Obvious Ending that is Telegraphed in the Second Act. There is No Twist to that and once the Twist is No Longer a Twist, everything is Less than it could be.

The Ending is also Drawn Out like it Thinks You didn't see it coming. Oh My! Didn't Everyone? So the Third Act is a Ho Hum, get it Over with affair. It isn't a Bad Movie just one that is Short on Surprises and in a Psycho-Thriller that's a Death Sentence.

The Cast tries hard and the Emotional Dial is set at 10 most of the Time and it makes for some Engagement and Intrigue, but it really has Nowhere to Go after the Middle. The Movie is Shot with some Style, but the Familiarity with the Story is its Premature Problem.

Overall, Worth a Watch but Ultimately a Let Down for those accustomed to this Type of Thing. A Good Effort Overall, but Average or just Slightly Above.

Partly funded by the BBC and premiering at the Toronto and London Film Festivals, The Ones Below is a demonstration of the lack of imagination in British cinematic language that's really disheartening. British cinema is often great from the eyes of an auteur with something to say, such as Mike Leigh, Terence Davies and Shane Meadows, but when it comes to something like this which is supposed to simply be a piece of thrilling entertainment, it's disappointingly one- dimensional. I yearn for more emerging voices to get this type of exposure instead. The Ones Below is like a very good and expensive student film. Had it been conceived from a recent graduate, it'd earn a bit more of a pass. Instead, it's overthought and underdeveloped, too often opting for cheaper tricks and easier melodrama.

Clémence Poésy, a familiar face from her role in Harry Potter, In Bruges and 127 Hours, plays mother-to-be Kate who just moved into the top half of a duplex with her husband Justin, played by Stephen Campbell Moore. Apprehensive about their downstairs neighbours, they avoid them until Kate discovers that Teresa, played by Laura Birn, is equally far along with her pregnancy. They swiftly become friends and she invites Teresa and her intimidating husband Jon, played by David Morrissey, upstairs for dinner. Though friction with conflicting personalities initially rustles tensions, it's an unbearable tragedy at the dinner's end that sparks the film's ultimate story of parental paranoia in the vein of Roman Polanski's memorable motifs on women in apartments.

To be fair, Poésy really commits to the film in the first performance I've seen from her which isn't somewhere between a bit part and a supporting character. She combats the melodrama with a rawness that really benefits the film. The problems come in the film's contrivances and staging where each actor's hesitations and reactions are over measured. Perhaps this is due to writer/director David Farr's previous theatre background, as it very clearly shows his lack of nuance when it comes to the bigger screen. Throughout the whole aforementioned dinner sequence, Morrisey's eyes are shrouded in shadows as if the idea of his menacing nature couldn't have been more subtly communicated. But admittedly, in its simplicity it is entertaining and engaging, but it's not satisfying to be so spoon-fed. The questions it asks are superficial albeit acceptable if this was designed for Britain's smaller screen.

There's not an inch of the frame wasted as they try desperately to make this two-story narrative cinematic. It works, and it's thoroughly attractive, but it's almost too full and vibrant, not reflecting the rough tone that the film should have. Spending money on lights and cranes which are just used for unmotivated movement remove the film of a human grounding that it's begging for. It does offer this reflection of how Kate feels later on as it grows more rugged and desperate, but it doesn't stitch together in a way that really puts you in her head, and by that point it's too late. The scenes feel more like examples of feelings rather than following a strong narrative thread, developing the characters beyond well worn archetypes. The language it uses is based in clichés rather than speaking a compelling voice of its own.

Otherwise it's trying too hard to cover all ground as it shoehorns in a subplot regarding Kate's relationship with her parents. We have a distant mother who's unfathomably selfish and then some kind of connection with her dead father as she for some reason must brave the weather to visit her grave and leave her child in the hands of someone she explicitly doesn't trust. The film often defies logic for the sake of an empty gravitas. It's piling lots of ideas about relationships in social classes and anxieties about motherhood but never really exploring a single theme to a particular result. In fact, its terrifying conclusion ends up being a relieving best case scenario. It'd be unfair to call it a complete mess and its effort isn't wasted. I just expect much better things from well-resourced British cinema that doesn't resort to appealing to the least perceptive people in the room.

6/10

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"The Ones Below" is a decent enough little chamber piece on the perils of parenting, particularly if you suspect the neighbors downstairs covet your new-born baby. It marks the directorial debut of writer David Farr, (he wrote "The Night Manager" for television), and it's nicely done but in the end it's just too unpleasant to be entertaining. Basically a four-hander and well played by Clemence Poesy as the new mother convinced her neighbors are up to no good and by David Morrissey and Laura Birn as the neighbors, (personally I would have moved out five minutes after they moved in). It's let down only by Stephen Campbell Moore as Poesy's partner. Considering his outing in a similar role in the nasty little horror picture "The Children" some years back I would suggest Mr Campbell Moore get the snip sooner rather than later.