The Monitor

I saw this film as part of the Imagine film festival (SF/fantasy/horror) Amsterdam 2012. The festival website labeled it as "horror", but I rather concur with the mixed "horror/thriller" label we see on IMDb. We cannot help feeling sympathy with the mother (Anna) and her son (Anders), just having moved to a hiding place where her husband resp. his father cannot find them. We are told this is because of prior domestic violence towards the son. It is the main reason for buying and installing a baby monitor in the son's bedroom. Since he is 11, he would not need such supervision in normal circumstances.

Apart from that, we see what initially looks like a sub-plot, in the form of a flirtation with the salesman (Helge) in the home electronics shop where the baby monitor is bought. The relationship strengthens later on when Anna hears alarming sounds out of the newly installed device, and seeks his advice as it is not coming from Anders' room. Helge explains that the signal can be picked up from a similar device in the neighborhood. Given that Helge is the only one taking her story seriously, and Anna feels all alone with her situation, it can be no surprise that she asks for his help. And Helge, also feeling alone, is very eager to offer some assistance.

Anna stumbles on a nearby lake, where she observes disturbing things happening on the opposite side. What she sees, obviously reminds her of her own reasons to run away from her husband. After rushing through the woods to find the place where it happened, there are no visible traces of something out of the ordinary. On later occasions Anna completely fails to find the lake again, as if it never existed in the first place. We are as confused as Anna is, since several landmarks we saw before along the path to the lake, are still on their original spot and look undisturbed.

All in all, though a few scenes could be improved by shortening some parts, I saw an entertaining mix of what was real and what only existed in Anna's mind. After a while we think we are sure what's real and what's not, given what is presented to us by the scenario writers. Acting is very good, so we are easily convinced by what we see.

However, one of the final scenes shows aforementioned lake again, after we saw with our own eyes that Anna could not find it anymore. It unexpectedly confronts us with a completely different view on the matter (no details, to prevent spoilers). In hindsight, I could remember no pointers that we may have been misled by what we had seen on screen. In other words, this was really a surprise for me, but of course, I may have missed some clues. Yet I think this should not happen in a "thriller" type of film. Some cleverly planted clues with hints that there might be more to it than what we saw, certainly would have improved our viewer experience.

Wonder why nobody didn't compare this to the Japanese horror classic "Dark water".. The setting is kind of the same.. I loved Dark water, and I liked Babycall as well, even though it was a i bit more messy, and the plot felt a little too "constructed".. But its still good.. Noomi Rapage is great in the role of a young mother on the verge of mental breakdown.. As in many new age horror movies we have a mother moving into a suburban ghetto apartment, after having troubles with her ex husband abusing their son (just like in Dark water).. She hears some strange screams on her baby alarm, and the story starts to unfold.. The atmosphere and the puzzle is well made, but the plot to easy figure in big terms.. Screenplay and acting is good.. Story a bit too mainstream for my taste, but still thrilling at times for sure.. Noomi Rapage does a very good job, lots of tension.. The sceneries and the suspense works, but I missed a little originality to the story.. But bottom line, and enjoyable ride, that could have been better with a more simply story.. A little too many threads for it own good.. Still i give it 7 cause, its well done and I am a sucker for subttle slow semi horror movies...

Anna moves into hiding in a shabby flat in an apartment building outside Oslo, with her young son Anders. She is a profoundly neurotic, young woman: terrified that the boy's violent father will find them again and attack her son.

Having been instructed by social services that Anders should sleep in his own room, she buys a baby-monitor from a local shop, in order that she can hear him sleep. However she starts picking up the sounds of violence from a nearby flat.

Unable to tell the difference between her psychosis induced world and reality, she seeks help from Helge, the shy sales assistant who sold her the monitor.

Just because she's paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get her.. but it does make it difficult to piece together the story, told mostly from her desperately disturbed perspective.

This film won the Grand Prize at the Gerardmer Film Festival in France: it is really worth a look.

THE MONITOR stars Noomi Rapace as Anna, a mother who is in hiding in order to keep her son safe from his abusive father. This all seems straightforward, but it's not.

Anna may be suffering from some severe mental issues that cloud the situation dramatically. Much of what occurs could be real or illusory. We're given pieces of the puzzle, only to have the puzzle itself continue to expand.

This film has an icy sense of dread and uneasiness right out of the gate. Anna lives in an enormous, box-like apartment complex set in a terminally grey atmosphere of heavy, perpetual gloom.

Ms. Rapace is fantastic in her harried, paranoiac role. She elicits both sympathy and a touch of fear from the viewer.

If you enjoy suspenseful, psychological-thrillers filled with mystery, then this should keep you guessing until the end...

Babycall is a sparse psychological mystery / thriller by writer / director Pal Sletaune, centred on a convincing and naturalistic performance by Noomi Rapace, with excellent support from Kristopher Joner as her character's awkward admirer and Vetle Qvenild Werring as her son Anders. As a claustrophobic mood piece, it is effective, and Rapace gives an accomplished performance, as should be expected by those who know her work. Events are bleak and the central character is troubled, and it is not a comfortable watch, but ultimately likely to be somewhat satisfying for fans of the genre, if perhaps only for the central performances, since horror is not a word that sits well in its description.