The Woman in the Window
(C+ or 2.5/4 stars)
'The Woman in the Window' (directed here by Joe Wright, of Atonement, Darkest Hour) is not unlike Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train before it -- film adaptations of pulpy, trashy best-selling thriller novels. I've been anticipating this film for a while, given the pedigree involved - Joe Wright, actors like Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, & a top-notch craft crew - but for one reason or another, this film has been delayed several times & tinkered with in post-production. Usually that means that there are problems with the film and, well, that does seem to be the case here.
Amy Adams plays Anna Fox, a child psychologist who hasn't left her sprawling Manhattan brownstone in nearly a year due to her paralyzing agoraphobia. Her contact with the outside world is limited to her enigmatic basement tenant, David (Wyatt Russell), visits by her psychiatrist (Tracy Letts, who also penned the screenplay, here), & phone calls with her estranged husband (Anthony Mackie) & their daughter. Anna spends most of her days observing the world through the front window of her brownstone, including the recent arrival of an unhappy family directly across the street.
Alistair Russell (Gary Oldman), comes off as cold & clinical. His 15 yr. old son, Ethan (Fred Hechinger), seems like a nice boy, if perhaps distressed by his domineering dad. And Anna forms a boozy bond with the boy's outspoken mother, Jane (Julianne Moore), who stops by for some drinks. But Anna is shocked the next night when witnessing a violent attack across the way which results in a knife being lodged into Jane. Detectives (Brian Tyree Henry, Jeanine Serralles) respond to Anna's frantic police call, but they find nothing amiss. Stranger yet, Alistair shows up with his wife Jane, who is alive & well. Much to Anna's confusion ... this is NOT the same Jane (Jennifer Jason Leigh) that she met! Haunted by the past & not sure of her sanity – fueled by her mixing of psych meds & alcohol - Anna tries to figure out what is going on, especially since nobody believes her story. Is Anna crazy, under the influence, suicidal, all of the above, or none of the above?
You know, this is one nutty film. It is not awful, as there is too much quality up on the screen {acting, craftsmanship}. However, it is a bit of mess. With a director like Joe Wright - who has created so many brilliant cinematic works - how could he let this one spin out of control? Tracy Letts is a great screenwriter, so how could this script get as schizo as it does? Even the cadence with which characters speak feels "off" - sounding inorganic and not like real-life conversations. I don't fault the performers. Amy Adams ably immerses herself as a bedraggled, mentally fractured woman. There is SO much acting prowess on the screen, but only Adams is allowed to showcase her abilities. I have to wonder what happened in the editing process. At 100 min. in length, one would assume that this film was at least 20-30 min. longer & was truncated down. There is just little flow to the proceedings.
One gets the impression that many scenes were cut throughout when seemingly pertinent characters come & go sporadically. Good scenes are followed by awkward ones; rinse & repeat. Basically, this film is like a stitched-up Frankenstein. Furthermore, even if you do enjoy the film, it goes off the rails in the last 10 minutes; feeling like a slasher movie with a bonkers climax that is a ludicrous letdown considering what built-up to it. There's an air of: "That's where they went with the story!?" Segments of this film recall Hitchcock's Rear Window, yet lacks that film's excitement, suspense, style & substance. And while 'TWITW' is watchable & contains good pedigree, it is solely Amy Adams who makes this film work as much as it does – and that ain't much.
Amy Adams plays Anna Fox, a child psychologist who hasn't left her sprawling Manhattan brownstone in nearly a year due to her paralyzing agoraphobia. Her contact with the outside world is limited to her enigmatic basement tenant, David (Wyatt Russell), visits by her psychiatrist (Tracy Letts, who also penned the screenplay, here), & phone calls with her estranged husband (Anthony Mackie) & their daughter. Anna spends most of her days observing the world through the front window of her brownstone, including the recent arrival of an unhappy family directly across the street.
Alistair Russell (Gary Oldman), comes off as cold & clinical. His 15 yr. old son, Ethan (Fred Hechinger), seems like a nice boy, if perhaps distressed by his domineering dad. And Anna forms a boozy bond with the boy's outspoken mother, Jane (Julianne Moore), who stops by for some drinks. But Anna is shocked the next night when witnessing a violent attack across the way which results in a knife being lodged into Jane. Detectives (Brian Tyree Henry, Jeanine Serralles) respond to Anna's frantic police call, but they find nothing amiss. Stranger yet, Alistair shows up with his wife Jane, who is alive & well. Much to Anna's confusion ... this is NOT the same Jane (Jennifer Jason Leigh) that she met! Haunted by the past & not sure of her sanity – fueled by her mixing of psych meds & alcohol - Anna tries to figure out what is going on, especially since nobody believes her story. Is Anna crazy, under the influence, suicidal, all of the above, or none of the above?
You know, this is one nutty film. It is not awful, as there is too much quality up on the screen {acting, craftsmanship}. However, it is a bit of mess. With a director like Joe Wright - who has created so many brilliant cinematic works - how could he let this one spin out of control? Tracy Letts is a great screenwriter, so how could this script get as schizo as it does? Even the cadence with which characters speak feels "off" - sounding inorganic and not like real-life conversations. I don't fault the performers. Amy Adams ably immerses herself as a bedraggled, mentally fractured woman. There is SO much acting prowess on the screen, but only Adams is allowed to showcase her abilities. I have to wonder what happened in the editing process. At 100 min. in length, one would assume that this film was at least 20-30 min. longer & was truncated down. There is just little flow to the proceedings.
One gets the impression that many scenes were cut throughout when seemingly pertinent characters come & go sporadically. Good scenes are followed by awkward ones; rinse & repeat. Basically, this film is like a stitched-up Frankenstein. Furthermore, even if you do enjoy the film, it goes off the rails in the last 10 minutes; feeling like a slasher movie with a bonkers climax that is a ludicrous letdown considering what built-up to it. There's an air of: "That's where they went with the story!?" Segments of this film recall Hitchcock's Rear Window, yet lacks that film's excitement, suspense, style & substance. And while 'TWITW' is watchable & contains good pedigree, it is solely Amy Adams who makes this film work as much as it does – and that ain't much.