Rating: 3.5/5
Hooptober 5.0 | 6/32 | Anniversary Film 5/10 | Countries 5/6 | Mexico | Decades 4/6 | 60s
The wind roars outside. In its whispers, a voice calls out to Claudia. Claudia wakes up to see someone hanging from her ceiling. The wind blows her windows open.
A doctor comes to check on Claudia. He claims it is an awful nightmare brought on by a nervous breakdown. The schoolmaster, whom the students call a witch, dismisses his concerns and believes Claudia will be fine.
Fellow schoolmates at this private boarding school come to visit Claudia. Claudia recalls her nightmare, in which she enters a tower forbidden to the students.
The students go to the tower together. Upon inspection, they find the tower unlocked. Though afraid, Kitty enters. None had been there, but Claudia remembers every detail.
The schoolmaster catches them. She forces them to stay at the school over the break instead of going home as punishment. She chastises Claudia, threatening to put her under psychological supervision if she continues.
Lucia, one teacher, pleads to the schoolmaster to watch out or they will have a repeat incident. The schoolmaster forbids her to discuss it, but Lucia knows it is their fault. She refers to the girl who hanged herself in the tower years ago.
The cinematography is dynamic and fluid, suggestive and subtle.
The story moves swiftly, developing its cast of students and teachers effortlessly. The pace slackens during the second act but picks up for a stellar finale.
Though not amazing, the performances are ideal for the story’s tone.
The film explores the fear adults have of teenage sexuality and the ways repression only strengthens their subversive tendencies. The students hide smut and wear more revealing pajamas when they can get away with it. The film also suggests that one or more of the students are repressing queer tendencies as well.
The teacher’s pet is the most chaste of the students. When her classmates force her to dance with them, she reluctantly joins. But when they force her to strip, she becomes frightened. Kitty takes up the helm and does her striptease. “This is just like Paris,” she says. But she stops when she sees the dead girl outside in the storm.
The ghost does not represent them, but the adults repress them.
Naturally, being written and directed by a man, it comes across as exploitative. But the underlying metaphor is accurate.
Did I mention this movie is gay?