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AFRAID OF THE DARK
A psychological thriller centered on a young boy and his disturbed psycho-sexual fantasies, AFRAID OF THE DARK is a strange little film that’s admirably thoughtful and subdued in its approach, but not recommended for the easily disturbed!
The Package
This modest 1991 British-French co-production was the directorial debut of
Academy Award winning screenwriter Mark Peploe, whose writing credits include
the Bernardo Bertolucci films THE LAST EMPEROR, THE SHELTERING SKY and LITTLE
BUDDHA. A freaky (if intellectually charged) horror flick like this seems an
odd choice for a first film by such an obviously refined sensibility, but here
it is, complete with a high profile (by European standards) cast, which includes
James Fox (a veteran of PERFORMANCE, THE RUSSIA HOUSE and many others), David
Thewlis (NAKED) and French starlet Fanny Ardent (SWANN IN LOVE, ELIZABETH, many
others).
The Story
Lucas, a plucky little boy, lives in a small English village with his
police inspector father and blind French-accented mother. Everyone around them,
it seems, is blind, and a madman is on the loose, hacking up visually impaired
women. Lucas is understandably worried for his mother’s safety, and becomes
fixated on tracking down and stopping the psycho. There are several suspicious
men who may be the killer, including an apathetic window washer and an even
meaner handyman. The culprit, however, reveals himself as a photographer who
Lucas manages to catch in the act one night when he--what luck!--casually
glances into an open window and sees the freak threatening a topless blind woman
with a straight razor. Lucas springs into action and puts a knitting needle
through one of the guy’s eyes.
At this point, halfway through the film, the narrative does an abrupt about
face, revealing that the preceding has all been a morbid fantasy. In reality
Lucas still lives with his police inspector father and French mother, who,
unlike Lucas’s fantasy incarnation, is not blind. In fact Lucas is the
one losing his sight, and is due to undergo an operation on his eyes. He’s not
exactly looking forward to this, and nor is he overjoyed about the child his
pregnant mother is about to bear. Of course, Lucas is not the plucky lad he was
before, but a severely introverted sourpuss.
Worse, Lucas finds himself increasingly unable to distinguish between
reality and fantasy. In his mind everyone around him is blind (as in the
fantasy of the first half) and a maniac is still on the loose...
The Direction
Like many screenwriters turned directors, Mark Peploe
doesn’t seem entirely comfortable in the role. The visuals are competent but
uninspired, with flat lighting and nailed-down camerawork. If you ask me the
material, particularly during the fantasy-tinged first half, would seem to call
for a more flamboyant style a la
Nicolas Roeg or
Dario Argento. The
performances are likewise uninspiring. Sure, the cast is packed with a wealth
of acting talent, and all do solid work, but nobody really stands out. I will,
however, say this about the film: I’ve been thinking about it a lot, so it’s at
least partially successful.
Consider: the narrative stops in the middle and appears to reverse itself,
replaying the central character’s exploits in the “real” world, in which quite a
few characters and psychological motifs from the first half are made apparent.
Also, there’s the question of chronology: the fantasy business comes first, but
the way Peploe plays out the second half--with characters and elements from the
first popping up throughout--suggests the main character is actually
experiencing the two realities concurrently, particularly in the final scenes,
in which reality and fantasy become literally indistinguishable.
Underlying all this is the prickly but unavoidable issue of morality. The
film is never particularly graphic outside the extremely troubling sight of a
blind woman tortured with a straight razor that occurs halfway through (a
reversal of the usual genre movie practice of saving the nasty business for the
end), but Peploe still manages to disturb in his unflinching presentation of a
young boy’s sexually-tinged fantasies. I remember reading a review that
suggested the lead actor, young Ben Keyworth (who hasn’t been heard from much
since), will have years of psychotherapy ahead of him as a result of appearing
in this film, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that has indeed turned out to be
the case.
Vital Statistics
AFRAID OF THE DARK
Les Films Ariane/Telescope Films
Director: Mark Peploe
Producer: Simon Bosanquet
Screenplay: Mark Peploe, Frederick Seidel
Cinematography: Bruno de Keyzer
Editing: Scott Thomas
Cast: James Fox, Fanny Ardent, Paul McGann, Clare Holman, Robert Stephens, Susan
Wooldridge, Jeremy Thewlis, Ben Keyworth, Catriona MacColl, Hilary Mason, Sheila
Burrell, Star Acri, Niven Boyd, Tiffany Bryant, Frances Cuka, Gerard Dimiglio,
Laurence Harrington, Struan Rodger, Oona Howard