Review of I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016) by Edgar S — 03 Feb 2018

Poetic, Haunting, Pretty Thing.

Compared to the many products of magical thinking made nowadays, «I Am the Beautiful Thing That Lives in the House» (2016) is a masterpiece of poetic tone and circumspection, of elegant visualization and aural gentleness, in which there is one or two frights so as not to "betray" the genre, but in which restraint reigns. Ghost movies loaded with visual effects abound and win the applause of audiences in search of quick thrills. In contrast, there are few products like this film by Osgood Perkins, which tells the story of how young nurse Lily Saylor (Ruth Wilson), who comes to care for the elderly writer Iris Blum (Paula Prentiss) in her Massachusetts home, begins to feel the presence of the ghost of Polly (Lucy Boynton). Pretty Polly is one of those spirits of folklore and tradition that have a tragic and violent ending in an environment, that they resist to leave and end up owning places and houses that they "haunt", unleashing strange events. But in this case, the confrontation of the nurse with Polly, her employer (who calls her Polly instead of Lily) and the memories that filter through corners and closets, consists of beautiful shots of the three actresses, self-reflections in subtle linguistic metaphors that evoke yearnings, fears and precautions, and in shots of the house itself, which is also a protagonist, leading us to the tragic resolution. There are no intrigues or mysteries: from the beginning Lily announces that she is 28 years old and that she will not reach 29. To the commendable technical work and Perkins' screenplay and direction, you have the benefit of very good performances by Wilson, Prentiss and Bob Balaba. Apart from everything evident, there is a subliminal autobiographical line in the film: from the beginning, Perkins dedicates the film to his father, "who gave me an old house"; he adds Perkins' rendition of Irving Berlin's song «You Keep Coming Back Like a Song» to the soundtrack, and shows the actor on a television in a scene from William Wyler's film «Friendly Persuasion». In addition, he cast Prentiss and Balaban, two old friends of his father who worked with him in the film version of Joseph Heller's novel «Catch-22». I hope that little by little this film gains the right place it deserves, as an artistically accomplished ghost story of impeccable execution.