What Lies Beneath (2000)
Starring: Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfieffer
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Synopsis: undeniably entertaining evening's diversion
Reviewed by: Faiza Khan

 

 

Married to the successful bio-geneticist Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford), Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer) appears to have everything suburban America promises. Her daughter has just left for college, leaving Claire with an idyllic lakeside home, a successful husband and a life of comfortable routine, occupied by gardening, household chores and the occasional business dinner.

As the title suggests, however, all is not quite what it seems.

Before long, Claire finds herself drawn into a strange and increasingly terrifying search for the truth.

Released in the wake of the enormous success of The Sixth Sense, What Lies Beneath is very much cut from the same cloth. Michelle Pfeiffer's seemingly neurotic housewife begins seeing the dead, while Harrison Ford's dependable husband gradually reveals that he too has more than a few secrets hidden beneath the surface.

The film certainly succeeds in making audiences jump.

Unfortunately, it relies almost entirely upon one cheap shock after another rather than creating genuine suspense or atmosphere. Every closing refrigerator door reveals someone standing behind it. Every mirror or reflection conceals another mysterious figure. Every dark corridor invites yet another predictable "look behind you" moment. Audiences will undoubtedly leap from their seats and bury their faces in their popcorn—or their pashminas—but the sad truth is that we've seen these tricks countless times before in low-budget slasher movies.

There are simply too many shocks and too many false endings, with twist piled upon twist until the twists themselves become the entire film.

Neither Harrison Ford nor Michelle Pfeiffer appears especially invested in the material. To describe their performances as lacklustre would almost be an understatement. Beyond the increasingly contrived plot and Robert Zemeckis' heavy-handed direction, perhaps the saddest aspect of the film is the realisation that Michelle Pfeiffer—once arguably the most luminous face in Hollywood—has begun to lose some of that effortless radiance that made her such a compelling screen presence. More disappointingly, she seems unable to inject Claire with much personality beyond perpetual anxiety. Harrison Ford fares little better, delivering his lines with such weary detachment that one wonders whether he was as eager for the film to end as the audience.

And yet...

Oddly enough, I would still recommend What Lies Beneath.

Despite all its flaws, it remains an undeniably entertaining evening's diversion. The film may rely far too heavily on manufactured shocks, but it is professionally mounted, handsomely photographed and polished enough to keep an audience engaged for two hours. It is certainly overlong, but never quite dull.

More importantly, the alternatives at the time were hardly inspiring. Alongside the likes of Cherry Falls and X-Men, this was one of the stronger mainstream releases of the season, even if it ultimately proves to be little more than glossy Hollywood product.

Just don't expect genuine terror.

Instead, prepare yourself for another example of Hollywood discovering a profitable formula and milking it relentlessly, substituting carefully engineered jump scares for imagination, atmosphere and genuine suspense.