HOUSE OF VOICES

1960s. Anna, a pregnant girl, is hired to do the final cleaning in the Saint Ange orphanage, which is about to close. Besides her, the only inhabitants of the building are a cook and Judith, an orphan girl who grew up at Saint Ange and suffers from mental disorders. Upon her arrival, Anna had been warned by a child to be careful of the 'scary children' and soon the girl will witness strange apparitions and disturbing noises. After some investigations, Anna will discover that the orphanage, in the past, was the site of mysterious child deaths. But why do these disturbing presences still populate the world of the living? Riding the wave of international success of ghost stories, the French also take the (almost) easy path of this overused horror genre. The models are naturally the British and American classics such as 'Suspense' and 'The Possession,' but in 'Saint Ange' there is more of an oppressive and disturbing atmosphere closer to modern taste, represented by recent works of the Spanish school (from Balaguerò to Plaza), without neglecting the essential 'The Others,' from which it draws the rarefied atmosphere and particular aesthetic refinement. Therefore, 'Saint Ange' has nothing new to show the viewer: there is the essential haunted building, skillfully made disturbing by excellent photography that alternates coldness and austerity with the warm colors of the autumn setting; there are secrets hidden in the past that will inevitably resurface to torment the minds (and bodies) of those who inhabit the present; and there are them, the children, now a staple in every self-respecting ghost movie. Unfortunately, the twists related to the 'secrets' that Saint Ange hides are predictable and do not possess a particular bite worthy of being remembered; moreover, the presences that haunt the orphanage manifest rarely and in a non-disturbing way (excluding the successful prologue), leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of the viewer who hoped to be swept away by some healthy chills. A positive note is represented by the characterization of the main characters, played by Anna (a beautiful Virginie Ledoyen) and the unstable Judith (a good Lou Dillon): the first is a young girl but full of experience, who became pregnant after a mysterious event (but from some brief flashbacks one can guess a gang rape) and tries in every way to mask her sin, considered as such by a bigoted society reflecting the European periphery of the post-war period; the second is an abstract individual, a girl's body and a child's mind, with the advantage of knowledge and the unconsciousness of possessing it. The technical and formal aspect of the film is undeniable: the suggestive photography has already been mentioned, but the editing and music are equally valid; the direction of the debutant Pascal Laugier, also the author of the screenplay, is also appreciable; the latter, however, does not satisfy, because to unclear passages, which would have deserved a greater deepening, alternate passages that are not fluid, slowing down the rhythm of the film abruptly, making it seem, especially in the central part, excessively slow. The result is undoubtedly pleasant, but from the premises one could and should have expected something more, instead 'Saint Ange' loses itself anonymously in the now crowded sector of ghost movies.