Author's note:
The following review was published on Spanish language yesterday February 21st. It may content spoilers.
Today I've watched with my grandmother this film of supernatural thriller, which was written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro; this director is known for directing fantastic films such as The Shape of the Water, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone, among others. He has also been a scriptwriter and executive producer of some films such as The Hobbit and Mama, and also the author of a book series called The Trilogy of Darkness (trilogy that I hope to get one day).
Honestly I loved this movie from the beginning to the end, not only for the plot but also for the symbolism behind some of certain elements. At first it seems that it was a film more alike those called d'epoque", with that gothic nostalgia worthy of Edgar Allan Poe himself; that is, we see two strangers who meet on a sunny day (Edith and Thomas), they fall in love, they "face" adversity (Edith's father, Mr. Cushing, and Alan McMichael, the girl's friend) and at the end they get happiness in a ruined house that Thomas promises to do the best he can to repair it.
However, as the film progresses, we learn that everything was coldly calculated. Allerdale Hall, the ruined home of the siblings Thomas and Lucille Sharpe, is the scenario of a series of horrific crimes that begin with the discovery of the incestuous relationship between the siblings by their mother, a woman who suffered domestic violence and who, as Lucille subtly suggested when she chatted with Edith in the music room, she unloaded her frustration against her children by locking them in the attic. The deaths followed with the three previous wives of Thomas; and if we observe the common patterns well, we discover that they were all heirs of some fortunes and that they had lost their relatives. "A death for mercy", according to Lucille's conception in the scene in which she forced Edith to sign the last legal papers.
Now, of what symbolism I was talking about previously? You find the answer on the house and Lucille.
The house has been the scenario of bloody events that marked Lucille's psyche; such events were probably the constant physical and emotional abuse to which she was subjected by her mother, becoming a sort of pillow where Mrs. Sharpe discharged her hatred and rage against her husband. That is why she, almost at the end, reveals to us her true colors: an emotionally disturbed woman, with a terror of loneliness and without a clear notion of what fraternal love is; a woman who refuses to cut her ties to the past, one who is used to torture and pain.
Therefore, the house becomes a symbol of violence, negativity and division; all this reinforced again and again by the actions of Lucille. A symbol very well worked by Del Toro.
I could mention some more symbols that I've found on the movie, but I leave this review here and invite you, my dear reader, to judge yourself when you wacth the movie.
