In the stillness of an old house only lit by Christmas lights, we follow the path of an overflowing bathtub down the stairs until the figure of an elderly, naked woman appears in the middle of the living room with a blank expression on her face. The woman is Edna (Robyn Nevin), who is soon after reported missing to the local police by some concerned neighbors. Although mostly estranged, Edna’s daughter, Kay (Emily Mortimer), and granddaughter, Sam (Bella Heathcote), travel from Melbourne to Kay’s remote Australian home in hopes of finding some answers. What they arrive to is a house in utter disrepair previously occupied by a woman battling with dementia. Fruit is rotting away and mail is stacked precariously high on hallway tables, while scattered post-it notes litter the house with messages as straightforward as ‘’take pills” to cryptic such as “don’t follow it.” The mood is dire as the ghosts of a woman losing her mind haunt the premises. The board is expertly set in these opening scenes for a challenging take on the traditional ghost story in Japanese Australian director Natalie Erika James’ debut feature.
The creeping black mold present throughout the house echoes the encroaching loss of self that Edna has been experiencing. When she unexpectedly returns after several days away, the reaction from the family is relief mixed with a bit of skepticism. Edna refuses to give any hints to where she has been, either out of obstinacy or cluelessness. She greets her family how she greets life presently, with confusion and irritation one moment and warmth the next. The local doctor examines her and concludes that there is nothing physically wrong with her outside of a small black patch on her chest, which matches the mold infesting the house. Kay can tell that something is amiss, and she does her best to not abandon her mother like she feels she has done in the past. Kay is also experiencing her own slip of reality. Images of an old cabin near the house flash through her mind; unclear whether or not these are repressed memories or visions of things to come. Mortimer flawlessly portrays someone trying to hold it together amongst the anguish that she is feeling from a lifetime of regret and fear. She wants to be strong for her mother at least once in her life, but Edna does not resemble any mother she knew.
Heathcote as Sam proves to be the perfect bridge for Edna and Kay, as she can empathize with what both generations are feeling while trying to deal with her own emotions. Sam can see that her grandmother is slipping away little by little, but she also sticks up for her more than anyone else. Sam’s curiosity about the state of the house gets her sucked into the fractured reality of her grandmother. Just as Kay’s mind is deteriorating into a nonsensical puzzle, hidden areas of the house prove to be an inescapable series of dead ends and shifting perspectives when Sam sleuths a little too much. James’ script dials the paranoia of losing your mind up to eleven. Those who have loved ones with dementia, or just have a fear of it for themselves, will be profoundly impacted by the way in which these fears manifest in the film.
Relic provides some genuine chills and thrills, but it does prove to be a subtler movie to which most mainstream audiences are less accustomed. It definitely plays more towards an arthouse sensibility as jump scares are mostly nonexistent in favor of the slow building of dread that grows throughout the perfectly paced runtime. The film is imperfect as there are several plot threads that are introduced without being given a satisfying conclusion. Also, the ending will likely to be very divisive depending on your experience and interpretation of the film. As much as this is billed as a ghost story, it is better to approach this film as an intense meditation of confronting loss. The movie is very contained both in scope and in characters, which allows it to focus very acutely on specific issues. The result is both chilling and moving in equal measure, and it makes a case for why psychological horror is the purest fright of them all. Recommended
Relic opens in select theaters, digital and cable VOD on July 10, 2020.
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Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
