FRAGILE

The pediatric hospital of Mercy Falls is now close to closure, but due to a train accident, not all children can be immediately transferred to the already full city hospital. In the last days of operation, strange events occur at Mercy Falls that endanger the safety of the hospitalized children; indeed, the bones of some children break inexplicably, and strange apparitions and eerie noises terrify the young patients. Emy, a newly hired nurse, begins to investigate the hospital's past, and shocking truths will come to light. Presented at the Venice Biennale 2005 and unfairly ridiculed by the official critics, "Fragile" is a highly respectable ghost story directed by Jaume Balagueró, now a specialist in the genre. The first praise goes to the young Spanish director, who, in his third attempt behind the camera, has proven to be a true author, capable of carrying forward a very personal poetics, a discourse that he articulates in three films with recurring themes. The absolute symbol of his cinema is the figure of the child: children martyrs and at the same time executioners, children with disabilities capable of resurrecting as ghostly and omnipotent beings. Balagueró's cinema is made of whispers, diffused atmospheres, dim lights, and dark pasts that punctually return to impact the present. In "Fragile," despite the presence of a great Calista Flockhart (the star of "Ally McBeal"), the true protagonists are the poor sick children who populate the hospital, among whom little Maggie stands out and her ectoplasmic and vengeful alter ego, known as "the mechanical girl," a pathetic but at the same time highly unsettling figure in its aesthetic representation. Another great protagonist of the film is Mercy Falls, the pediatric hospital with a late decadent flavor that, with its cracks and sudden creaks, manages to unsettle the viewer and create a symbolic parallel between the beams that shatter and the bones that break. It is unnecessary to underline the excellent work done also in terms of photography and set designs, supported by a suggestive musical score capable of skillfully highlighting the tense scenes. Certainly, some absolutely successful scenes should be remembered, such as the elevator accident and the final confrontation with the appearance of the mechanical girl, in all her macabre splendor. In conclusion, "Fragile" is a successful and unsettling tale of ghosts and their attachment to the living, which completes a symbolic trilogy dedicated to the child world started with "Nameless" and continued with "Darkness." A film certainly worthy of at least one viewing.