"The Quiet"

Elisha Cuthbert
Camilla Belle
Edie Falco
Martin Donovan
Shawn Ashmore
Katy Mixon
David Gallagher






R           96min           2005




“The Quiet” is about a deaf and mute girl Dot (Belle) who is sent to live with her godparents (Falco and Donavan and their daughter Nina (Cuthbert). As she adjusts to her new surroundings she realizes that this idyllic family is not as picture perfect as it would seem.

It does what an indie film is supposed to do. This is a disturbing film yet a compelling movie to watch. Elisha Cuthbert and Camilla Belle are a dynamic duo on screen.

“The Quiet” is one of those films that take a subject matter that is taboo and grays it. Yes he was wrong but was Nina not complicit in the crime too? There wasn’t that much marketing behind the film and it came and disappeared into oblivion much too quickly.

The subject matter is disturbing and it brought many emotions in me, and I think that’s what good films are supposed to due. Many times I who stop the film, because I needed to digest what I had just seen but I was compelled to find out what would happen next. You’re an observer of this family knowing most of the angles even before it begins yet you know its going to be an interesting journey.

Elisha Cuthbert and Camilla Belle as Nina and Dot are compelling to watch. Cuthbert moves from a seductress to a vengeful lover to a mournful child, seamlessly. Belle playing a deaf and mute girl plays it outstanding. There are clues to her secret throughout her performance whether intentional or not they make the character so much richer. That other characters never pick them up makes the betrayal so much more resonating.

For some “The Quiet” will be off putting, for some mildly disturbing and for others another walk in the park, either way it’s an interesting journey to the end. I personal appreciated the film and what Jamie Babbit did with this film, once I made that journey.

I give it 4/5 Gs.