Camilla Belle stars as Dot, a deaf mute girl who is sent to live with her godparents Olivia (Edie Falco) and Paul (Martin Donovan) Deer after the death of her father. Shunned by the couple’s daughter Nina, (Elisha Cuthbert) Dot soon discovers that all is not right in the Deer household, and uncovers some very dark secrets which lead to murder.
The Quiet isn’t really a horror film, it’s more of a dark dramatic thriller, but its cast is genre friendly and it does feature a particularly gory murder. It’s also a very disturbing film with some horrific subject matter at its heart.
***spoiler alert***
The film revolves around the strained relations of the Deer family. Nina resents Dot having to live with her family, Olivia is an over-medicated mess and Paul is having an incestuous relationship with his daughter Nina. During the course of the film each of the characters uncovers dark secrets about the others, with horrifying results.
***end spoilers***
Camilla Belle and Elisha Cuthbert (also an associate producer here) are wonderful as the two leads who resent each other at first, but end up helping each other out, and they are well supported by Falco and Donovan (who is very good here) as well as Shawn Ashmore who has a particularly difficult role and newcomer Katy Mixon.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Director Jamie Babbit handles the material well and turns in a distinctly darker piece of work than her previous efforts, but it’s perhaps a little too arty for some. A very brave and dark film, The Quiet is well made with a wonderful soundtrack (Belle and Cuthbert even play piano) but it’s a little strange which obviously resulted in it heading straight to DVD where it may achieve something of a cult status.
