The Quiet (2006)

A deaf-mute young woman is adopted by a family that is harboring some dark secret. On the surface, the film looks fabulous, but there's little underneath the surface. Cuthbert is an alluring young actress, as is Belle. Unfortunately, the actress who disrobes in this film is neither of them but Falco (perhaps that's why it's classified as a horror movie). The acting is poor pretty much across the board. The script is flimsy and the dialog is embarrassingly bad. Director Babbit is a veteran of television and it shows. The film plays out like a bad after-school special about a taboo subject. The voice-over narration is meant to be touching but is pretentious.

The Quiet was released largely under the radar in 2005; and as such I didn't really know what to expect going into it. After having seen it, I have to say that I'm not really surprised that the film has not won itself a mass market following, as it's a long way away from being mainstream. However, despite lacking mainstream appeal; The Quiet is still a very well acted and intriguing character study. The main themes of the plot are deception and secrets and the plot focuses on a girl named Dot. Dot is deaf and mute and has just suffered the loss of her father; her mother having died some years previously. Dot has been sent to live with the family of her mother's friend; which comprises a mother, a father and a daughter Dot's age. The daughter takes an instant dislike to Dot; thus increasing her alienation from the family and society as a whole. However, as the relationship between the pair develops; it soon becomes apparent that the family Dot is staying with are harbouring a very dark secret...I saw The Quiet's trailer shortly after seeing the film and I have to say that if I had seen the trailer first, I probably wouldn't have seen the film. It's not that the trailer is badly put together; but rather it sums up the film by the fact that it's very difficult to pigeon-hole. The Quiet does not particularly belong to any genre; parts of it could be described as 'thriller' and there are 'drama' elements too; but really the film just is what it is. This lack of any predefined structure ultimately means that it's never really clear where The Quiet is going to go; and it's that which ultimately makes it interesting. The central character is a real enigma and brilliantly played by the beautiful Camilla Belle. The film is lead by a narration from the central character; which gives us just enough insight into the character for her to always remain intriguing. The plot eventually shifts its main focus from building the characters to the dark revelation and this plot line is ultimately weightier because of what the audience has invested in the characters up to this point. I have to say that The Quiet is not a film that will appeal to everyone; but for me it pushed all the right buttons. I would recommend going into this with no pre-defined expectations (don't watch the trailer!) and it might just catch you off guard. Highly recommended viewing!

Jamie Babbit's "The Quiet," dealing with the difficult subject of sexual abuse, is an ambitious film that shot for the stars and ended up tumbling down a cliff. The main downfall of this film is that the talents of the actors are not commensurate to the demands made upon them by their challenging roles. The character of the abused teenager Nina, for example, is certainly interesting, but Elisha Cuthbert cannot play this character effectively. Cuthbert had to portray a tortured soul struggling not to explode in a rage. But Cuthbert couldn't do it. She appears more like a sulking and obnoxious teenager experiencing puberty rather than a girl who is unusually troubled and depressed. And because we cannot imagine Cuthbert's Nina as troubled and depressed, it becomes more difficult to understand why she would explode in a rage. In addition to that dilemma, the angry scenes come across as something from a cheap theatre play with third-rate actors. Instead of convincing the audience that she was angry, sadistic, and potentially violent, Cuthbert came across as an actor playing a role. In other words, a film's success depends on its ability to deceive the audience into believing that the people on screen are real. But in "The Quiet," we were not seeing Nina, but rather Elisha Cuthbert pretending to be Nina -- and that's why this film does not work.But that was not the only problem with this film. The editing was poorly done. There are scenes in "The Quiet" that should not be there because they distract from the central premise (which is the story of the sexually abused Nina). I am referring to the sex scene involving Dot (Camilla Belle) and one of the boys in school and another scene where Dot and the same boy are at a cafeteria engaging in dumbed down conversation. Then there are the scenes with Camilla Belle playing the piano which seem to lack any purpose. I like classical music, but how does Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata relate in any way to the subject of this film. Perhaps Babbit felt that if the classically trained Camilla played Beethoven, then somehow that would save the film. She was wrong. Finally there are the boring scenes with Nina as the cheerleader on the basketball court or in a cinema looking back at Dot.Finally there is the problem of the script. Why for instance was it necessary for Elisha Cuthbert's Nina to dress in a sexy cheerleader's outfit in front of her sexually abusive father. For a film dealing with sexual abuse, scenes displaying Cuthbert's sex appeal come across as shamelessly exploitative and by implication even supportive of incest and sexual abuse (even if that was not the intention). The nude scenes with Eddie Falco, who plays Nina's mother (she did so much better in the Sopranos), are among the most uncomfortable that I have seen. Then there is Camilla Belle's performance as Dot, the supposedly deaf and dumb girl who moved into Nina's house. We know -- in fact we are told -- that we must to feel very sorry for Dot, because she lost her father in a car accident. But I did not buy into that sentimental nonsense, because the car accident and the disability are cheap ploys to generate sympathy for a character that does not move us in any way. Daniel Day Lewis' Christie Brown character in "My Left Foot" moved us because his feelings and frustrations seemed real. But Camilla Dot's Belle is dull, uninspired and depressing to watch. There is no reason to care about what she says as evidenced by the fact that her observations are forgettable. This too is a big problem for this film because Camilla Belle narrates for this entire movie. But she has nothing important or interesting say throughout; her performance is dreary and indifferent.The only thing I can credit this movie for is director Jamie Babbit had the guts to go all the way with this ambitious project when more frail souls (influenced largely by monetary concerns) would have given up or tried to find some way to cut their losses. "The Quiet" was Babbit's great gamble and it failed. Belle and Cuthbert were poorly chosen for their roles. The plot was flawed. The cinematography, gloomy. The music, all wrong. "The Quiet" is a failure, but it is also an ambitious failure because Babbit cared enough about this film to try as hard as she could to make it work even when it was clear that it could not work.

The deaf and dumb teenager Dot (Camilla Belle) is adopted by the Deer family after the death of her father in an accident, and her seventeen year-old stepsister Nina (Elisha Cuthbert) gives a cold treatment to her, humiliating Dot in the high-school and at home. Nina's mother Olivia (Edie Falco), who is addicted in pills, was a close friend of Dot's mother and her husband Paul (Martin Donovan) is a successful architect. While living with the Deers, the invisible Nina discovers that they are actually a dysfunctional family with a dark secret that approaches her to Nina that also has discovered that Dot has a hidden secret.The classy and erotic "The Quiet" was a great surprise for me, with a dense and solid drama about an unpleasant theme – incest – that is unusual in American movies. Camilla Belle, Elisha Cuthbert, Martin Donovan and Edie Falco give top-notch performances, and the talented actress and pianist Camilla Belle is responsible for part of the stylish music score, playing Beethoven on the piano. The powerful story about invisibility and secrets may be controversial or polemic for many viewers, disturbing for others, but never disappointing. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "O Preço do Silêncio" ("The Price of the Silence")