Emelie

When a parent leaves their children with a babysitter, it is often only as a last resort. When the Thompsons leave their 3 children Christopher, Sally and Jacob in the care of Marcy the babysitter. Marcy is slightly unexpected as their usual babysitter is unwell or unavailable due to an unknown cause. This will be a night that no one will forget.

The worst nightmare for many parents is leaving their offspring in the care of absolute strangers. This can create deep felt anguish and anxiety during these events. The problems often stem from children balancing childhood supervision and adult independence. It can also create many modern related suspicions for parents like the exposure of adult subjects and the lack of control or guidance. They also bring up the fears parents have with themselves and care they provide. Care is a thing that many always ask if they are providing enough and whether this is of value to the person provided to. This film cleverly plays on these topics and the way they are primal but also their modern incarnation. Modern parents fear their children’s being abused. The juxtaposition of innocence and horror is very unsettling and sometimes very disturbing. This film starts as a subversion of the home invasion genre but by the end becomes a meditation on the ‘abuse’. On the fear of society and the unknown. Think of it more as a coming of age story if the family were the Manson family.

Now Sarah Bolger is amazing as the unhinged and unbalanced character. She adds layers of subtle hostility, sinister menace and deranged explosions of violence. The children all play it with sensitivity and realism. They are excellent and regulate a film that could be very different. Director Thelin makes the piece tight, absorbing and very clean looking. Filmed beautifully and composed with an eye for the gentle disturbed imbalance of suburbs. There are some clichés here but they are played well and simply. They do not force you into the downturn of regularity. My real concern is that the push for a sequel will hamper the quality of this original film.