The Others is from this post-Sixth Sense and Fight Club era where psychological thrillers with twists were at a premium. From 2000-2008, before the new Superhero Era really kicked off, you had an avalanche of twist-based films. Donnie Darko, Memento, Mulholland Drive, Secret Window, Identity, Vanilla Sky (the remake of Alejandro Amenábar’s Abre los ojos), Saw, Taking Lives, etc. etc. etc.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like Sixth Sense was the first movie to ever have a huge twist. But it grossed $672 million at the box office on a $40 million budget, so every studio wanted to recreate that success. Many films from this period have stood the test of time, but none have the mid-century gothic grace of The Others.
So let’s explain it’s ending and discuss some themes and meaning along the way.
Out of the darkness, into the light
If you’re familiar with our site, you know we often discuss how movies can operate on two levels, the literal and the representational.
On the literal level, The Others explains itself pretty well. Grace, her husband, and her children are all dead. The husband from war, the kids by Grace smothering them, and Grace from a self-inflicted gunshot. They are ghosts haunting the house. Bertha, Lily, and Mr. Tuttle are essentially a welcoming party that tries to ease the family into the reality of this afterlife. The husband was able to visit but had to return to where his body passed—the front of the war. Victor and his family were the “real” ones and the old woman who Anne saw 14 times was a medium. When Grace was freaked out by someone playing the piano, it was actually Victor’s dad in the world of the living; Grace was actually just a ghost terrifying him.
The representational level is a little less obvious. But it is, honestly, simple. You see, the film’s writer and director, Alejandro Amenábar, grew up Catholic but became agnostic. He explained this in an interview with Nitrate Online (a website that’s very Web 1.0):
I was brought up in Catholicism. And religion gives you the answers. I think it’s not good to think that we have the answers. That’s what I’m trying to say through this story. For me, it’s a journey for Grace and her children toward light, as a form of knowledge. And the War—it’s Grace who cannot accept and realize this other, outside War, which has to do with her own war, her own reality in conflict with her beliefs.
Notice that when discussing the film’s literal level, I didn’t mention the family being in Purgatory. That’s because they’re not. The religious framework introduced early in The Others, via the story about Justus and Pastor, was a red herring. Usually, that kind of conversation, especially one so focused on the afterlife, serves as foreshadowing and would be something we point to as explaining a plot point or theme. But, in this case, Amenábar used the scene as a feint. And that’s because it serves the purpose he stated earlier: I think it’s not good to think that we have the answers. That’s what I’m trying to say through this story.
Nicholas had explained the afterlife according to Grace’s Bible teachings: There’s the hell where the damned go, then there’s Purgatory, and the Bosom of Abraham, where the Just go. And Limbo where children go. Because of that dialogue, it’s easy for someone to get to the end of the movie and say “Oh, it’s just Limbo/Purgatory.” Except that would be missing the point.
That’s why, at the end, we get that conversation about Limbo. Nicholas says, “If we’re dead, where’s Limbo?” And Grace admits, “I don’t know if there even is a Limbo. I’m no wiser than you are. But I do know that I love you. I’ve always loved you. And this house is ours.”
Grace had been so adamant about the Bible and her Catholic teachings. For her to admit that she’s now uncertain and that she’s “no wiser than you are” is a huge character shift, as it shows a change of heart regarding her beliefs. The book that had held all the answers now has none. Right after that, Anne realizes the light no longer hurts them. Which explains the major motif of The Others. The curtains and need for darkness and locked doors represented Amenábar’s view of the impact religion has on the home. Blind faith in religion was actually keeping the family in darkness. It’s only once Grace lets go of that doctrine and allows for “outside” knowledge that she finally understands herself and her children and can begin a new life.
“But, Chris, how can they begin a new life when they’re dead?”
This is what I mean by looking at the movie on a representational level rather than a literal one. On the literal one, yes, everyone is gone. But on the representational level, the movie is about moving past having a religious framework for the world. In that sense, the “death” is merely a metaphor for the end of their old life and this transition to a new one. Under the religious framework, the family’s quality of life was low. But, now, with that gone, we already see the quality improve: the curtains go down, the kids can “play” outside, and roam through the house.
Alejandro’s saying “This is what life’s like when you let religion dictate how you live versus when you let go of the prepared answers and start living based on your own knowledge and worldview.”
That becomes clear when you revisit the conversation about Justus and Pastor.
- Nicholas: “The Roman governor tried to make them change their minds afterwards—”
- Grace: Mmm. “To make them change their minds.” Full stop.
- Together: “Afterwards”
- N: “Afterwards, he ordered them to be beaten. But Justus and Pastor, far from being afraid, rejoiced and showed themselves willing to die for Christ. When he saw this, the Roman governor was filled with rage and ordered their heads to be cut off.”
- Anne: ::giggles::
- N: ::also laughs::
- G: What do you find so amusing?
- A: Well…
- G: Well, what?
- A: Those children were really stupid.
- G: Why?
- A: Because they said they only believed in Jesus and then they got killed for it.
- G: And what would you have done? Deny Christ?
- A: Well, yes. Inside, I would have believed in him, but I wouldn’t have told the Romans that.
- G: Is that what you think, too, Nicholas?
- N: ::nods::
- G: So you both would have lied to the point of denying Christ. Oh, you’d have saved your heads being chopped off by the Romans, that’s true. But what would have happened afterwards?
- A: When?
- G: In the next life. The one that’s waiting for us after we die. Where would you have gone?
This conversation initially makes Grace seem like the one who knows what she’s talking about. She is, after all, the adult. But once you’ve watched the movie the conversation has a completely different vibe to it because it turns out that the next life isn’t, in the world of the movie, based on Limbo, Purgatory, Heaven, Hell, or anything said in the Bible. If it were, Grace, very guilty of infanticide, would have gone straight to Hell. No pass Go. No collecting $200. If Biblical morality existed, Grace wouldn’t be with her children. But she is.
So when you look back at Justus and Pastor, Amenábar is actually on the side of the kids. He’s saying “Save your heads! Don’t be stupid and say something that’s going to get you killed in this life, because you don’t know what actually awaits in the next one.”
If you need a real-world equivalent, think about famous cases like the Turpin family or the Vallow-Daybell doomsday murders, where someone’s faith was so extreme that tragedy resulted. Those are severe examples, obviously, but there are more normal situations. Here’s an article that talks about “People who were raised extremely sheltered get real about what most surprised them about the real world.”
And, of course, there are counter examples. People who have a very healthy relationship with their faith, are terrific parents, had a great, religious-based childhood, etc. Nothing in this analysis is saying that’s impossible or even improbable. It’s just Amenábar uses The Others to comment on how “relying on religion for all the answers” can go wrong.
Cast
- Grace – Nicole Kidman
- Anne – Alakina Mann
- Nicholas – James Bentley
- Mrs. Mills (Bertha) – Fionnula Flanagan
- Edmund Tuttle – Eric Sykes
- Lydia – Elaine Cassidy
- Charles – Christopher Eccleston
- The Old Lady – Renée Asherson
