DVD Review: House of Voices
House of Voices (Saint Ange) (2004)
Studio: Universal
DVD Release Date: October 18, 2005
Directed By: Pascal Laugier
Cast: Virginie Leodyen, Lou Doillon, Catriona MacColl, Dorina Lazar & Marie Herry
Brutal As Hell Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars
Review By: Annie Riordan
The year is 1958. When the accidental death of a young boy leads to the closing of the Saint Ange Orphanage in the French Alps, young Anna is hired to keep the place clean until it is decided what to do with it. With only an elderly cook and one disturbed girl named Judith left in the building for company, Anna sets about her duties, all the while binding her abdomen tightly to conceal her advanced state of pregnancy. We learn – sort of – that Anna was dismissed from her previous job after some “trouble” with her employers. Rape is hinted at but never confirmed.
As Anna goes to work, whispery voices plague her in the long, dark corridors. Shadowy figures open doors and race along the upper floors, heard but never seen. Judith tells Anna that, sometimes, the “scary children” come to visit her at night. What dark secrets linger in the abandoned orphanage, and what are the cook and the taciturn Head Mistress hiding? As her unwanted pregnancy progresses, Anna senses that there is something terrible hidden in Saint Ange. Or is it all in her mind?
After viewing the incredible punch-to-the-stomach that was Martyrs, I was looking forward to this previous effort by Pascal Laugier, produced by Christophe Gans. House Of Voices initially seemed to have everything going for it: a lovely, spooky location, stormy nights and a gradually building sense of dread that might have been unbearable had it ever paid off. Unfortunately, House Of Voices never does. After about an hour of creepy sounds and gloomy atmosphere, I realized that this was pretty much all that House Of Voices had to offer…well, that and Virginie Leodyen looking pensively through the strands of her hair for long stretches of time.
I’m sure if you really wanted to, you could make some sort of sense out of the bizarre, hallucinatory ending that the movie offers. However, I just didn’t feel it was worth the effort. House Of Voices really should have been a good movie, and while it wasn’t terrible, it simply isn’t memorable. It’s overlong, confusing and ultimately disappointing.
