Silence Becomes You

An occult-magic undercurrent runs through this entire movie. Beautifully made! Gorgeous colors and costumes caught my eye. Went back later to watch from the beginning and fell in love with the entire movie! Perfectly cast and wonderful performances by all. A definate must see! Especially to watch the sisters learn their craft while young (via flash-backs), and then use their 'magic' during the movie.

She is Hot! Alicia is my favorite Actress!

I caught the last 30 minutes of "Silence Becomes You" on cable and was intrigued enough to order the DVD. The DVD would have benefited from a director's commentary as the film is annoyingly vague at times (even to me) and I imagine that most viewers would welcome some clarification. My favorable first impression was probably a combination of the great production design, the excellent acting for the camera direction, and the understated yet inventive editing. It was filmed in Lithuania in HD video (said to be the first feature film with 100% digital cinematography), a technique that allowed the production staff to see each days rushes immediately so they could make timely rewrite and re-shoot decisions. "Silence Becomes You" was written and directed by Stephanie Sinclaire, the Associate Artistic Director of the internationally known Kings Head Theatre in London. Her stage background shines through the production as all three of her main characters are given a nice multi-dimensionality. They are all flawed yet to varying degrees sympathetic. Take the assorted plot summaries and comments about this film with a certain grain of salt. It is about two 20-something half-sisters (if you credit certain statements and make an inference) who are still living together in the estate where they grew up. Alicia Silverstone plays Violet and Sienna Guillory plays Grace. They have decided that Violet should have a baby and lure a roguish drifter named Luke (Joe Anderson) to the estate for the purpose of getting her pregnant. There is a fourth character, the house, which exercises a considerable hold and influence over the two women. This relationship is represented by frequent memory flashbacks to their father and their childhood. The two young actresses who play them as little girls (most likely chosen for their physical similarity to Silverstone and Guillory) are convincingly directed by Sinclaire and their frequent appearances give the film a lyrical quality. As in Terrance Mallick's "Days of Heaven" (1978), the four principal characters represent the four elements; earth (the house), water (Violet), fire (Grace), and wind (Luke). The principal dynamic being how the least transitory element holds the three elusive elements in place. Most of the complaints about the film seem to center on Sinclaire's frequent misdirection, the viewer only knows what she wants you to know and when she wants you to know it. There does seem to be vagueness for the sake of vagueness, or at least in the service of introducing complexity to a relatively simple story. The girls have a degree of paranormal skills and there is a strong mental connection between them; qualities that their alchemist father (lead into gold is his metaphor for reproduction) went to great trouble to develop. Sinclaire violates the language of film with this and with her inconsistent flashback techniques; confusing the viewer about what is real, what is mystical, what is a dream, and what is simply a memory. So the film is unable to decide between being a ghost story of a psychological melodrama. Yet in the end all this stuff fits into the final explanation so as long as you get it there is little cause for complaint. This is a must see for Silverstone fans, by far the best thing she has ever done. Helped by an excellent acting for the camera director and a quality ensemble she is quite impressive. To me her face has always seemed slightly off-balance, making her an excellent fit playing a character that is somewhat off-kilter. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

I wanted to like this film. I was rooting for it. I love artsy sepia-toned horror films like LOST SOULS and THE RING and GOTHIKA -- but SILENCE BECOMES YOU is none of that. It's not a horror film. It's hard to say what it is. I kept waiting for something to gel; a story, a theme, a point ... something! But NOTHING! The events (it's hard to call this a story) concern two young women living alone in a mansion. Their father was an alchemist. They allude to a "plan," which seems to involve finding a young man to mate with so they can have a baby. Well, one of the sisters picks up a drifter in a bar and takes him home. Then ... nothing much. Lots of talk and flashbacks and superimposed images. I mean LOTS of superimposed images, all throughout the film, but to no clear purpose. We see images of the young women as children, superimposed all over the place. At one point, the man is asleep, then he's woken by one of the women as a child. But it means nothing. Is it a dream? A flashback? An imagining? Alchemical magic? Does it occur in the future? The past? Another dimension? "Who is beside you?" the man asks without moving his lips. "No one is beside me," the child answers. "You're just a child," the man says. "I am eternally a child," the child replies. Uhm, okay. These images (of the women, their parents, the young man) are constantly superimposed, with sounds too. LOTS of magical-poetic gibberish, with no clear rhyme or reason. The film seems to borrow a bit from D.H. Lawrence's THE FOX in that these two women become jealous over the man. All in all, a confusing mish-mash. Beautiful sets, photography, sepia colors, but so BORING as it's all for naught. Just gibberish, and superimposed images, and wandering in the snow, and just sheer nothing. Yes, there's an ending. Or rather, the film ends. Don't ask me to explain it. There's a fire. Or was there? It seemed a big fire, but then the house seems unaffected. The man seems to have died, but later we see him superimposed beside one of the women. One seems to have lost her baby in childbirth (or did she?) while the other woman is pregnant. Was it all a dream? A magical alter-reality? Who knows! I'm sure some people will be bowled over with stupefied admiration, but I like a story to go with all that pretty photography. An artsy-fartsy, none-horror, sorta Jane Austin type Gothic suspense thriller (the women watch an Austin movie on TV), but really, WHAT IS IT?

Cood copy

Malen ist Feuer. Schreib die Geschichte mit Deinem Blut. Deine bleiernden Knochen werden zu Gold. Wenn der Geist hervor kommt - dann ist nichts als Stille. Nichts dort draussen ist es wert, es zu besitzen. Die Leere muss gefüllt werden. Viele gute Ideen werden hier angerissen und ambitioniert umgesetzt. Zwei Schwestern leben auf einem einsamen Landgut in England, einer von der Aussenwelt abgeschirmten eigenen Welt. Ihre Eltern sind bereits verstorben. Das Erbe ihres Vaters, eines alchemistischen Genies bestimmt ihr Leben. Sie haben sich der kreativen Alchemie, der Entwicklung des Selbst durch Kunst verschrieben und verbringen ihre Zeit damit, Bilder zu malen und ihnen Leben einzuhauchen. Ihr Ziel ist Transformation durch das Befreien des Geistes und das Erreichen der Stille. Da ihnen in ihrem Leben etwas fehlt, denken sie sich den Plan aus, einen jungen Mann zu verführen und ein Kind von ihm zu bekommen, aber unter der Bedingung sich nicht zu verlieben. Dieser Mann bringt das Leben der beiden Frauen durcheinander und jede erkennt durch ihn, wer sie ist und was sie eigentlich will. Der Film spielt etwas mit okkulten Themen und der Transformation des Selbst, erreicht aber leider nicht die dafür notwendige Tiefe und Einsicht in die Dinge. Die Geschichte der Suche nach Vollkommenheit und Schönheit bleibt an der Oberfläche und der Film beschäftigt sich statt dessen mehr mit einer Liebesgeschichte und dem Einfluss des väterlichen Genies auf seine Töchter. Zum Schluss finden beide ihren Weg und erkennen dadurch ihr wahres Wesen. Der Film lebt von vielen schönen und phantasievollen Bildern und dem sehr eigenwilligen Thema. Es werden Themen wie Telepathie, Kreativität, Psyche, kindliche Prägung und Visionen gestreift, doch leider eben nur angedeutet. Insgesamt zu wenig und zu allgemein um einen tieferen Zugang zu diesen Themen zu vermitteln. Das ist in diesem Fall schade, weil es ein wirklich guter Film hätte werden können. Es bleibt beim ambitionierten experimentieren, aber das ist durchaus sehenswert.