You’ve seen and heard it all before
Things Heard & Seen (16+, 121 mins) Directed by Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Reviewed by James Croot ★★ 1⁄2
For George Claire (James Norton) the move to upstate New York was a dream come true. For wife Catherine (Amanda Seyfried), it was a nightmare.
Not only is she having to give up a great job, the trained art restorer was moving to a place frequented by ‘‘rich, horsey weekenders and fulltime rednecks’’. But Catherine accepted that the teaching position at Saginaw University was a great opportunity for George, even if it meant she would be spending most of her time with their young daughter Franny.
Her mood isn’t improved by his choice of house – one from the late1800s that has more than just an air of history about it. ‘‘Yeah, it could use a paint job,’’ he admits, ‘‘but just look at these bones. We’ll make it happy.’’
It quickly becomes clear that’s unlikely to happen. Catherine’s eating disorder worsens, their new home is plagued by strange smells, unexplained movements and the occasional vision, and George’s cult-like following among his students puts temptation in his way.
‘‘He’s got a social life at that school – and I’m isolated,’’ says Catherine tearfully to her mother. ‘‘I’m starting to see things – and I’m afraid to tell him.’’
To her dismay, her mother simply asks if she’s ‘‘eating and praying right’’.
Increasing friction between the couple comes to a head after a dinner party, when an explosive argument in the car results in not only cross words, but George lashing out in anger.
Bruised and angered, Catherine begins devoting her time to looking into the past history of their property. What she uncovers puts her even more on edge.
Based on Elizabeth Brundage’s 2016 novel All Things Cease to Appear (inspired by her own spooky house experiences and a 1982 killing near where she was living at the time), writingdirecting duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s (American Splendour, The Nanny Diaries) tale also owes a large debt to horrors past.
While its tone, tenor and marital tensions naturally evoke memories of What Lies Beneath, and the haunted house scenario ‘‘conjures’’ up plenty of deja vu moments (there are definitely things here you will have heard and seen before), it’s hard not to see the potent combination of a 1980s setting, a new job in upstate New York, ghosts, axes and potential madness as a nod to a certain Stephen King story.
In truth, tonally though, Things Heard & Seen is all over the map. It works best in its Patricia Highsmith-esque moments, with McMafia and Grantchester star Norton truly trashing his good guy image as George goes to increasing lengths to protect his position and public perception. There’s more than a touch of Thomas Ripley about the way he removes any obstacles.
Where Heard & Seen is on shakier ground is in the spiritual elements. The co-directors pile on the art history symbolism and old ‘‘history repeating itself’’ tropes, but the end result will leave many unsatisfied.
Likewise, while you might never look at a slide projector (if you’re old enough to know what that is) in quite the same way again, Seyfried and company (including the under-utilised duo of F Murray Abraham and Karen Allen) never truly sell the supernatural stuff.
Things Heard & Seen is now streaming on Netflix.