Review of The Haunting of Julia

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** In recent years I have realised that ghost stories are my absolute favorite, if done from a mature point of view. Browsing through movies to rent one day, I ran across "The haunting of Julia". I rented it based on the fact that it was a ghost story, and it had Mia Farrow in it (which probably meant it wasn't going to be a teen motivated film). What a treat this turned out to be. If you judge a movie based on blood and guts, or CGI effects, you won't care for this. This film is a much more cerebral movie, which requires multiple viewings to take it in fully. SPOILER WARNING: First off I must state that one of the main attractions of this movie is the gorgeous soundtrack. Very pretty piano and early synthesizer pieces that fit as perfectly to the film as possible. Always conveying the proper mood, it will definately put a lump in your throat. I found the soundtrack existed on an import CD, which I snapped up. Sadly it is missing some of the most memorable compositions, and arrangements from the movie, but it is still a treasure to have. The story is about Julia Lofting, who loses her daughter early in the film, and spends the rest of the movie trying to make up for it in some way. After her daughter's death by choking, Julia spends time recovering in the hospital. When it's time to leave she spontaneously ditches her husband and rents a big scary place by herself. We are eventually informed that Julia's husband is a scum, using her only for her money. This is his reason for trying to win her back. Julia's grief is overwhelming, and you really feel for her. Things begin happening in the house, though subtley. A radiator always seems to be on, even when Julia makes sure it is off when she leaves the room. She hears subtle sounds, and assumes it's her husband trying to start trouble. We are then introduced to Mark. He is an antique dealer, and a real friend to Julia. One of the subtle effects of the film is that sounds that are generally loud and obvious are pushed back to barely be heard. Doors slamming, glass breaking, bells ringing. Though the events are taking place right on screen, the sounds are very distant. It adds an amazingly eerie effect. Early in the film there is a seance held at Julia's home. This was by the request of Lily, the sister of Julia's husband Magnus, who is also interested in Julia's cash, but who also genuinely likes Julia. This is apparently a little hobby of Lily's, to have these weekly sessions with mediums. This week she and her friends are using a silly old woman Mrs. Fludd. During the seance Mrs. Fludd begins to panic. When she is shaken back to reality, she informs Julia to leave the house. She's vague but she mentions a child. Julia begins to assume it may be her daughter the old woman saw. It is the dialog during this whole scene, from the minute Mrs. Fludd enters the building, that really tells you what will eventually happen. "Spirits can't do anything in the material world. They need someone to do it through". Julia begins an obsession with the spirit she believes is in her house. Eventually she finds out the spirit is of a girl named Olivia, who resembles her daughter. This girl was quite evil. She had all the neighborhood children under her control, and could even encourage them to kill. You never really get a good look at Olivia until the end. Before that we see her from the back, or miliseconds of her as she moves off screen. The movie is generally considered slow, but it really does unfold at a good pace. It's just not an action film and requires a bit of thinking. The atmosphere is amazing. Julia continues to try to find out the truth about Olivia, and anyone that threatens to hold her back eventually ends up dead. The details are gradually realised by research and visits to people associated with Olivia, leading to the final details when Julia tracks down Olivia's mother at an institution. Even after Julia knows that Olivia is evil, she just wants to help her. The end of the movie is the most stunning, and terrifying, I have ever seen. I have never been affected so much by a film. After the story is completed by Olivia's mother, and all necessary people have been killed, Julia heads back to her home, at night in the rain, in tears. It is at this point that one of the most gorgeous and simple pieces of music plays that always chokes me up. When she arrives at home, Olivia finally appears to her. Julia follows Olivia down the stairs. Olivia is sitting on the floor with a toy that Julia brought, which was her daughters. A monkey that claps cymbals together when wound up. Julia moves slowly to a large chair in the middle of the room. She looks at Olivia and picks up the toy. She holds her arms out to the girl and says "come?" Olivia slowly gets up, and with a blank stare moves towards Julia. In an effective artsy touch, all the surrounding lights are gradually dimmed, leaving just Julia and the chair illuminated. You never see Olivia and Julia connect. Julia just sits back and says "Everything's right now. Stay with me". At this point the camera slowly goes behind the chair. You hear a small metallic noise. The sound of the monkey's cymbals. When the camera emerges from the other side of the chair, Julia is is leaning back staring to the side. As the the camera continues it's turn, blood is slowly revealed pouring out of Julia's neck. The music, direction, acting, everything in this scene is absolutely perfect. I get chills everytime I see it, and it was the best possible ending there could be. You really feel for this character, and her constant desire to help, but when the spirit cuts her throat with her daughters toy (which is revealed early on to be sharp), it's absolutely devastating! It's awful to say it's the perfect ending, considering how dreadful it is, but it made the movie infinitely more effective than if she just revealed the secrets and the spirit was released. What I learned from this movie is that Olivia cannot do things in the physical way, as Mrs. Fludd stated. She eventually began to possess Julia, and used her to carry out the killings. This is never blatantly revealed, but gradually hinted at subtley throughout the film, and when you realize that Julia essentially cuts her own neck, it's quite effective. I was so impressed by this film that I had to read the book, even though I'm not much of a book reader. I was terribly disappointed. The book made Julia sound like a looney running around yelling THERE'S GHOSTS IN MY HOUSE! Mark was originally the brother of Julia's husband, and a bit of a rebel. He and Julia also had an affair. If any of that silliness was in the movie, it would have ruined things. Julia was much too distraught to think about sex. I really disliked the book, and thought the screenwriter did an amazing job with the changes. The movie was filmed in the 2.35 aspect ratio, and the 2 different VHS editions that have been released are awful pan and scan editions. This movie is desperately needing a WIDESCREEN DVD release, remastered in stereo, with an isolated soundtrack. That would be incredible!