Review by Karolina Gruschka
The Shout; what an odd little film. Watching it felt like listening to Pink Floyd: chilled, mystical, heavy, deep, dreamy, trippy, intricate, surreal, sophisticated, powerful, sensual.
It is a story about the intimacy of marriage, about adultery, about power struggles, about subjective realities, about isolation, about madness, about mysticism, about sound. Based on a short story by Robert Graves from 1929, it was adapted for the screen by Michael Austin in 1978. Despite being referred to as a horror film, I am not sure I would call it such. I do not know what I would call it though.
The Shout is set at an asylum in beautiful Devon during a cricket match between inmates, carers and locals. It is difficult to distinguish between who is insane and who is not, as genius and madness often lie close to each other. Crossley (Alan Bates), one of the inmates, is a highly intelligent man who believes he harbours supernatural powers. While the match proceeds, he tells Robert Graves (Tim Curry) a story that involves himself, fellow inmate Anthony (John Hurt) and nurse Rachel (Susannah York). As simple as this point of departure sounds, the situation is already layered in a complex manner. The film is shown from Graves’ point of view; one could call him the narrator. Through his eyes, we see Crossley tell a ‘true’ story which he admits to vary each time to stop it from becoming false. Now, within the story, we get a deep insight into Anthony, things Crossley could not know (or could he?) Not only is the narration multiply layered, but also, considering that all three are patients of the insane asylum, it is unreliable.
Similarly, it was mind-blowing to discover that the director of The Shout is Polish man Jerzy Skolimowski. When I started watching it, I thought that this is a very English sort of film. However, the production is a vision of an outsider looking at English society, hence, possibly why I, as a foreigner myself, might have picked up immediately on the coding of ‘Englishness’ in The Shout. Only a few minutes into the movie and already I am tripping out.
The disappointment of a childless marriage leaves Anthony and Rachel vulnerable to outside influences. While Anthony finds some excitement in coquetting secretly with the Cobbler’s wife (Carol Drinkwater), Crossley feels he has the right to take Rachel.
Crossley is this enigmatic, menacing and sexual force against which fragile Anthony bears no chance. Using Australian aboriginal magic that he learned living in the outback, Crossley traps Rachel’s soul in a shoe-buckle; as a result he can control her by holding on to the object. Throughout the story, the characters behave in an odd way. Rachel and the Cobbler appear to know about Anthony and the Cobbler’s wife, and both Anthony and Rachel let a fairly rude and dangerous stranger into their home, yet nobody is confrontational, keeping up an appearance of politeness. This demeanour gives The Shout an awkward and uneasy vibe, with a lot going on in-between spoken words. In fact, sound (or the lack of sound) plays a very significant part in the movie. Anthony plays the organ in church and likes to experiment with different sounds for his avant-garde music pieces as a hobby. There are lots of wild tracks of nature sounds in The Shout, interwoven at times with the mystical didgeridoo and synthesizer music by two members of Genesis. I think, because of the awkward pauses in-between text and the ‘emptiness’ of rural Devon, the viewer’s hearing sense is heightened, picking up on all the individual elements of the soundscape. It is therefore no surprise that the movie title comprises a sound; The Shout refers to Crossley’s terror shout – a sound that can kill every living being within a certain radius. Let me tell you, his shout is highly effective. The moment we first encounter Crossley’s dangerous ability could have easily slipped into ridiculousness, but the build up to this instant is justified and worth the experience. It is a multifaceted shout that made me feel uneasy, disturbed and actually slightly queasy. Think of the shout in Aphex Twin’s ‘Come to Daddy’, but with more depth and substance to it.
Back at the cricket match, Graves and the audience witness an event that could be seen as final proof for Crossley’s mystical power, however, while he releases the shout lightning strikes; it remains therefore ambiguous as to whether the shout killed those people or whether it was the lightning. Also, even if we believe Crossley’s story to be true, Anthony and Rachel’s weird behaviour might be a result of Crossley’s confident demeanour and suggestive practices. Combined with the fact that there is a degree of unhappiness in their marriage, Crossley being transparent about his use of ‘magic’ on the couple might influence their psyches. Similarly to Crossley, The Shout is a very weird movie that is equally irresistible.
There is a high calibre of British actors in The Shout, which already in itself is pleasurable to watch for nostalgic reasons. The Blu-ray will be released on 15th September by Network, as part of ‘The British Film’ collection. The disc will comprise the feature, an audio commentary with film connoisseurs Kim Newman and Stephen Jones, the original theatrical trailer, an image gallery and, interestingly, some soundless scenes.
The Shout is available on Blu-ray on 15th September 2014, from Network.