Awakening, The (Blu-ray) (2011)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror / Thriller	Audio Commentary-Writer / director Nick Murphy Interviews-Crew-Writer / director Nick Murphy Featurette-Behind The Scenes Deleted Scenes-With director's introductions More…-BAFTA Q&A - Nick Murphy & Rebecca Hill Featurette-Making Of-Anatomy of a Scene: Florence and the Lake Featurette-A Time for Ghosts Featurette-Anatomy of a Scream Theatrical Trailer Trailer-x 3 for other films
Rating
Year Of Production	2011
Running Time	106:37
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Nick Murphy
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Rebecca Hall Dominic West Imelda Staunton Lucy Cohu John Shrapnel Diana Kent Richard Durden
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Daniel Pemberton

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 (2304Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes, everyone smokes in 1921
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

“Sometimes dead does not mean gone”

     London 1921. After the terrible slaughter of WWI and the influenza epidemic that followed the war many people in England took comfort by believing in the supernatural, but not ghost myth debunker, author and rational thinker Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall). She had also lost her fiancé in the war but is an emancipated woman: she is a university graduate, wears trousers and smokes in public. But behind her rationality is a deep sense of loss and grief.

     Florence is approached by Robert Mallory (Dominic West), History Master at an isolated boy’s boarding school in Cumbria. He tells Florence that the school is haunted by the ghost of a former pupil, and that the boys are terrified. So terrified, that two weeks ago one boy had been found dead, literally scared to death. Two days before the end of term Florence travels to the school. With Mallory and Matron Maud Hill (Imelda Staunton), Florence sets out to establish the cause of the boy’s death by scientific means, and has immediate success. But rather than resolving the mystery of the ghost boy, Florence’s success leads her instead into an even darker place where it seems that a number of people at the school, including Mallory, young border Tom Hill (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and groundsman Edward Judd (Joseph Mawle), not to mention Florence herself, are haunted by ghosts from their past.

     The Awakening is an atmospheric, tense supernatural thriller from writer / director Nick Murphy where few things are what they seem. The film is about grief and loss and belongs to the old school of horror films where the setting and things heard and imagined, rather than monsters on screen, deliver the tension and the shocks. While the film is set in an old house, these are not small claustrophobic rooms but large rooms with big windows with a view of the outside landscape, and the events do not take place at night, but mostly during the day. This does not mean that the colour palate is light and airy; it’s not. There is no blue sky here, but cold, overcast grey days and the feeling is accentuated by the desaturated, almost grey and white, colours. Just like the British society, traumatised by the terrible losses in the war, all life and vibrancy has been sucked from the colours in the film, giving a feeling of impending gloom and dread.

     The film’s atmosphere is aided by a wonderful score by Daniel Pemberton that never signals its shocks and a stellar performance by Rebecca Hall. We see everything from her point of view and she is almost never off screen; her Florence combines intelligence and rationality but from the start we know that this is a façade and that Florence is far more haunted and vulnerable than she appears on the surface. Dominic West is also excellent as a man scarred by war and the loss of friends while Isaac Hempstead-Wright is waif-like and has the exact right balance between innocence, knowledge and loneliness. Indeed, except perhaps Mawle who seems a bit out of place, all the supporting roles are very good.

     The Awakening sets the scenario well and for three quarters of the film it delivers a tense, foreboding atmosphere and a few well-orchestrated shocks. Like all supernatural thrillers things, and people, are not what they seem and your appreciation of the film will depend, again like most films of this genre, upon how well you accept the explanation when it comes. It is mostly logical, if a bit contrived, but the clues have been sown within the film allowing viewers to arrive at “the truth”. At one stage a character says “the truth is nothing to fear”, but on the evidence of this film, it is!

     Taken overall, I think The Awakening delivers. The Awakening evokes an intelligent sense of time and place and is an atmospheric, tense supernatural thriller with a great setting, a dark grey colour palate, a good score and a wonderful central performance by Rebecca Hill. Well worth a look if this genre is of interest.

Video

     The Awakening is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     The print is a mixed bag. The film has been colour graded to leach all the bright colours out of the print. The shy is grey, the grass and trees a dull green, the water in the lake more gunmetal grey/green than blue. There are no bright colours in clothes or the environment – even when a red appears on a toy, it is dull rather than vibrant. All of this was the intended choice of the filmmakers – there is no vibrancy in the colours, just as there was no life or vibrancy in post WWI British society. In leaching out the colours one result is an excess of grain and in some sequences the film looks as grey and grainy as old photographs, especially some close-ups such as at 47:35. This again may be deliberate (the director does not say so in the commentary) but the look is not consistent – some scenes such as when Florence walks to the lake are clean and stunningly beautiful. However, this graininess does affect the sharpness of the print, as well as the blacks which sometimes look quite mottled, although shadow detail is reasonable.

     Marks were absent. However, there was breakup with motion, some quite noticeable such as at 23:25 against the patterned wallpaper, and aliasing of the usual suspects such as the railings 6:59 and books.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice of English DTS-MA HD 5.1 at 3042 Kbps or English LPCM 2.0 at 2304 plus English audio description.

    The DTS is an excellent audio track. Supernatural thrillers rely on the unseen but heard and The Awakening delivers with a subtle but enveloping audio track. Dialogue is generally clear but at other times deliberately snatches of words are heard from around the sound stage. The sounds of the school building are there in the background, bells, doors slamming Foley such as the ball roiling downstairs or the sound of the table tennis ball have depth and resonance. The sub-woofer added effective bass to tense moments, depth to the scares and to the music.

     The score by Daniel Pemberton utilised atonal cords to build tension, blending in with the Foley effects, but did add sweeping orchestral sections. It was very effective and supported the film’s visuals well.

     I did not notice any lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     The following trailers play on start-up and must be skipped. They cannot be selected from the menu: Everything Must Go (2:31), Submarine (1:58) and The Hunter (1:48).

Audio Commentary with Writer / Director Nick Murphy

     This is not a technical commentary by Nick Murphy, rather an indication of his intentions for certain scenes, the colour palate of the film, plot points and characters. He says “love this shot” or “love this sequence” a lot but is a humorous speaker and easy to listen to. And he does give his interpretation of the ending, but admits that only 50% agree with him!

Interview with Nick Murphy (18:41)

     Nick Murphy talks a bit about his career, researching and writing The Awakening, storyboarding some sequences, the cast and the strong central female character. Some behind the scenes footage with the interview. Interesting.

Behind the Scenes (34:32)

     Consists of Nick Murphy (writer / director), David Thompson (producer) and cast Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton saying how wonderful everyone was with film footage and a little behind the scenes. This is not about the making of the film, rather it concentrates on the characters and their motivations with a bit on the story, costumes, casting, the film’s colour palate, the weather, visual effects and music, and how great was the director. Fairly superficial.

Deleted Scenes with Director’s Introduction (27:04)

     This is an excellent addition, informative and interesting. Nick Murphy not only introduces the deleted scenes and discusses the criteria used but, in each case, gives an explanation about what the scene did or didn’t do and why it was cut. The individual scenes are:

• Florence in the Park
• Car journey
• Meeting Rev. Purslow
• The Doll’s House
• Maud Distressed
• Maud cross with Tom
• The Lavish Room

BFTA Q&A (6:13)

     Nick Murphy and Rebecca Hall talk about the film before an audience. With film clips and some behind the scenes footage. Nothing that is not covered elsewhere.

Anatomy of a Scene: Florence and the Lake (14:37)

     A quite funny and informative look at a pivotal scene. Covers the director’s intentions for the scene plus extensive on location footage of shooting of the scene. Comments from Nick Murphy, Helene Lenszner (location manager), Ricky Niven (stunt diver) and cast Rebecca Hall and Dominic West.

A Time for Ghosts (23:44)

     A fascinating look at the film’s historical background. Following World War I British society was traumatised by the mass slaughter of a generation in the trenches and belief in the supernatural was part of dealing with the horror and loss. I was not aware that the authorities had decided not to repatriate any bodies of the fallen back to England, the result being that without the physical evidence of death people remained in denial of the truth. Comments from Nick Murphy, Rebecca Hall and Dominic West plus interviews with Juliette Nicholson (author “The Great Silence”) and Alan Murdie (Chairman of The Ghost Club).

Anatomy of a Scream (16:18)

     Are there ghosts? Nick Murphy, David Thompson (producer), Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton and Alan Murdie (Chairman of The Ghost Club) speak about their attitudes towards the supernatural.

Theatrical Trailer (2:27)

     The Region B UK release is identical to our release except for some different trailers. As at this date the film has not been released in the US. Buy local.

     The Awakening is an atmospheric, tense supernatural thriller with a great setting, a dark grey colour palate, a good score and a wonderful central performance by Rebecca Hill that delivers a foreboding atmosphere, tense situations and a some well-orchestrated shocks. Your appreciation of the film will depend upon how well you accept the explanation when it comes.

     The video is not one to show off the advantages of Blu-ray, the audio is excellent and there is a diverse range of mostly genuine, interesting extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall