What Lies Beneath
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| What Lies Beneath | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Robert Zemeckis |
| Produced by | Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis Jack Rapke |
| Written by | Sarah Kernochan, Clark Gregg |
| Starring | Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Diana Scarwid |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | Don Burgess |
| Editing by | Arthur Schmidt |
| Distributed by | - USA - DreamWorks - non-USA - 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | July 21, 2000 |
| Running time | 130 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ US$90,000,000 |
| IMDb • Allmovie | |
What Lies Beneath (2000) is a supernatural thriller film by film director Robert Zemeckis. It tells the story of a housewife who finds her home is haunted. The film stars Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer as Norman and Claire Spencer.
Tagline: He was the perfect husband until his one mistake followed them home.
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[edit] Plot
Claire Spencer (Michelle Pfeiffer) enters a new phase of her life after a serious car accident leaves gaps in her memory. She is married to the renowned scientist Dr. Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford. Shortly after arriving in a new lakeside house in Vermont that once belonged to Norman's scientist father, her daughter Caitlin leaves home to go to university. One day when Claire is working in the garden she hears loud sobbing coming from over the fence. It turns out to be her neighbour, Mary Feur (Miranda Otto). She seems terrified and Claire is very concerned, thinking that her husband is beating her. Norman tells her not to worry. Claire wakes in the middle of the night, and looks out of the window. She sees Mary's husband Warren (James Remar) dragging what looks like a body bag out into the boot of his car. By the time Claire had woken Norman, there was nothing left to see.
The next day, Claire decides to investigate by taking a basket of flowers and wine to the house as a "Welcome Gift". After nobody answers the door she walks round the side of the house and makes a startling discovery; a woman's flip flop with a dark stain on it... She collects the flip flop, and returns to the front door to leave the basket there. Warren returns as she is leaving the basket, and Claire explains why she was there and asks where Mary is. Warren gives a vague answer which leaves Claire even more worried.
Mysterious events begin to happen in Claire's house when Norman is not there - a picture falling off the window sill, doors opening and closing themselves and the computer screen typing 'MEF MEF MEF' (Mary E Feur).Throughout the film a framed news paper clipping of Claire and Norman at a awards ceremony keeps mysteriously falling off tables and the glass breaks. At one point, Claire is running a bath and as she looks into the water she sees a second reflection over her shoulder. Claire then believes that Mary is dead, and is now haunting her.This prompts her to visit her husband at work in his lab. She chats to one of the scientists who explains the drug they are developing in the lab. It paralyses but leaves the victim completely concious. Norman, of course, thinks that Claire is feeling a bit empty since Caitlin is at university and this is just an excuse to grab attention. Desperate for closure, Claire invites her best friend Jody to join her for a séance in her bathroom where she had seen the reflection of Mary. Claire produces the flip flop she had earlier taken from Mary's house, and places it on the table. The Ouija board does not move, but a candle starts to flicker, then goes out. The dial on the Ouija board then starts to move slowly from M to F. Nothing else happens, so Claire and Jody break the Ouija circle and Claire puts the Ouija board in a cupboard downstairs under some jumpers, and asks Jody not to tell Norman about the séance which Jody dutifully does not.
Claire returns to Norman's workplace, where she informs Norman of what she and Jody had done. Norman tells her that she is going crazy, and decides to take her home. As they are crossing a bridge, they meet Warren, and Claire starts accusing him of killing Mary. When Warren looks confused, a lady comes over and asks him what the problem is. It turns out to be Mary Fuer, leaving Norman and Claire very embarrassed.
When Claire is once again downstairs in the dark, the picture falls off the windowsill again, and Claire removes the newspaper cutting from the broken frame. She notices the back of the cutting, where a missing person's report is. Half way down the report, a name is mentioned - Madison Elizabeth... The end is cut off as it was only a cutting from the newspaper. Claire searches the missing persons records for Madison Elizabeth F. There her name was - Madison Elizabeth Frank, MEF. She looks at the picture on the record, and it looked like the reflection that Claire had previously seen in the bath. As Madison had been a student at the University where Norman had been a lecturer, Claire decides to investigate by visiting Madison's mother. It turned out that Madison had never been found. Claire finds a lock of hair and a strangely shaped key in Madison's room, and takes it.
Claire returns home to Norman, where she jumps on him like a wild dog. Norman appears to be enjoying it until she pushes him onto the floor and he realises something is wrong and pushes her away. Claire looks into the mirror and sees herself drenched, stood in the doorway. She realises she can see herself before the car accident, when she had caught Norman with one of his students. She is distraught and goes to stay with Jody who tells her that she had seen Norman with a young woman in a bar in the local arty town of Adamant just before the accident, but Norman begged her not to tell Claire. After an unhappy phone call, Claire decides to go home. But first she visits Adamant and guesses the key unlocks a jewellery box she sees in a shop window. She dives into the lake by her house and pulls up the box. As she steps back into the house, Norman sees her. he notices the box and has to tell her everything.
He explains that he slipped, just once. He began a relationship with Madison and soon after realised his mistake, he loves Claire much more. But Madison was unstable and she threatened Norman that she would tell Claire, or worse, kill her. One day soon after the accident Norman came home to find her dead of an overdose of pills and a letter to Claire explaining everything. He put everything into her car and pushed it into the lake, burning the letter. He wanted to save his marriage, and his career. He and Claire then agree he should call the police and close the case. We see Norman make the call from the house cell phone. Then he goes off for a shower. Claire is suspicious. She checks through the phone and the last called number is not the police. She realises Norman faked the call and at that moment Norman presses a cloth containing his drug into her face and she is paralysed. He places her into the running freezing cold bath. Claire will drown, unable to move, but completely conscious while she is paralysed. This is how he managed to get Madison into the lake, she didn't overdose after all. He gives Jody a call, explaining that he would be sleeping at the lab overnight, so could she check on Claire in the morning?. He leans over her to give her one final kiss, and notices a chain around her neck. He spins it around, and his face goes pale as he recognises the pendant around her neck. A paranormal ghost jumps, making Norman scream and fall back into the mirror behind him. He collapses slowly on the floor, grasping at the bath on the way down. Claire tries to pull the plug out of the plughole with her foot, as the drugs are wearing off. The chain snaps off. The only thing that can save her now is the cable which is attached to the shower head spinning the bath tap shut, so that she can kick open the plughole and drain the bath.
She can move each part a little, and pulls herself up to the edge of the bath, peering over. Norman had vanished. Claire starts to crawl down the stairs, but there is still no one there, just blood marks all over everything. She picks up the phone, but it had been disconnected. The drug had almost all worn off by now. Claire starts walking towards the front door, picking up the keys to the truck on the way. She walks past Norman's body on the floor. As she gets in the truck, Norman starts running towards the door. Claire starts driving, but Norman manages to grab onto the edge of the truck. Claire needs to get to the middle of the bridge to get a signal on her mobile phone. As she reaches the middle of the bridge, he jumps into the front of the truck, and grabs the wheel. The truck veers into the lake. Claire can see the car where Madison's body is lying. Norman grabs Claire's leg so that she cannot escape, but the paranormal figure grabs Norman, dragging him to the bottom of the lake, and making him let go of her leg so she can float to the top and be safe.
In the Near Future: It is Winter and Claire is seen placing a single red rose on the grave of Madison Elizabeth Frank, but not the grave of Norman.
[edit] Cast
- Michelle Pfeiffer as Claire Spencer
- Harrison Ford as Dr. Norman Spencer
- Diana Scarwid as Jody
- Miranda Otto as Mary Feur
- James Remar as Warren Feur
- Wendy Crewson as Elena
- Ray Baker as Dr. Stan Powell
- Micole Mercurio as Mrs. Frank
- Katharine Towne as Caitlin Spencer
- Amber Valletta as Madison Elizabeth Frank
[edit] Production
- Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford were director Robert Zemeckis's first and only choices for the lead roles of Claire and Norman Spencer.
- Director Robert Zemeckis filmed What Lies Beneath while production on Cast Away was shut down; actor Tom Hanks had to lose weight and grow a beard for his character.
[edit] Trivia
- Raaz (2002 film) a blockBuster Bollywood movie released in 2002 directed by Vikram Bhatt is un authorized adaptation of What Lies Beneath except the climax which was different from original movie.However climax of What Lies Beneath is used in another Vikram Bhatt Directed Kasoor Which was released in 2000.
[edit] DVD release
What Lies Beneath was released on DVD on (January 30, 2001). The film was presented in anamorphic widescreen in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
[edit] Features
- Commentary from director Robert Zemeckis
- HBO's First Look Behind-The-Scenes Featurette
- Production notes
- Detailed cast & filmmaker bios
- Original theatrical trailer
[edit] Rating
The film was rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for Terror/Violence, Sensuality and Brief Language.
[edit] Soundtrack
The soundtrack to the film was released on (July 25, 2000) and featured the film's entire instrumental score.
[edit] Release and reaction
Budgeted at over $90,000,000, What Lies Beneath was released on July 21, 2000 and was met with mostly positive reviews. It opened #1 at the box office, grossing just under $30 million. It continued strongly throughout the summer of 2000, and ended up grossing over $155 million in the United States, and nearly $300 million worldwide.
Film critic Roger Ebert noted in his review that he felt the problem with Zemeckis' desire to direct a Hitchcock-ian film was to involve the supernatural, which he believes to be something Alfred Hitchcock would never have done [1].
Director Zemeckis told Roger Ebert that he believed audiences wanted to know everything about a movie before they saw it, which is why the trailers for his year 2000 movies What Lies Beneath and Cast Away both revealed fundamental "spoilers" for the films. In the case of What Lies Beneath, the trailer tells of Norman's betrayal, which is a twist that is not revealed in the film until after an hour of red herring mis-direction. Incidentally, Cast Away, like What Lies Beneath, is a co-production of DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox.
[edit] References
- ^ In the Rosemary's Baby DVD featurette, it is mentioned that the film was offered to Hitchcock, and he declined because it involved the supernatural
[edit] External links
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| Preceded by ''X-Men'' |
Box office number-one films of 2000 (USA) July 23, 2000 |
Succeeded by ''Nutty Professor II: The Klumps'' |
