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Lady in the Water |
| Lady in the Water | |
|---|---|
 Lady in the Water theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | M. Night Shyamalan |
| Produced by | Sam Mercer Jose L. Rodriguez M. Night Shyamalan |
| Written by | M. Night Shyamalan |
| Starring | Paul Giamatti Bryce Dallas Howard Jeffrey Wright Bob Balaban M. Night Shyamalan |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Editing by | Barbara Tulliver |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | July 21, 2006 |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $75,000,000 |
Lady in the Water is a 2006 thriller/fantasy film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
Contents |
After falling and knocking himself unconscious on the slippery pavement beside the swimming pool of a Philadelphia apartment building, the building's caretaker Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) is rescued by a delicate and mysterious young woman named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard). Cleveland later tells Story that she must return home, and takes her outside (while she is asleep) to breathe fresh night air. There, they are startled and soon terrified by a beast that is glimpsed on a nearby lawn, who pursues them to the door of Cleveland's house.
Come morning, Heep calls in a local animal control officer, who is puzzled by his description of the lurking animal: a large, wolf-like creature having a coat that resembles grass. While alone in Cleveland's apartment, Story discovers his journal, and in it his horrible secret; that he was once a medical doctor but forsook the profession – along with his sense of purpose – after his wife and child were murdered. While talking to a young Korean tenant, Young-Soon Choi (Cindy Cheung), Cleveland asks her the meaning of "narf", a term Story uses to name herself. Young-Soon mentions, in reply, an old Korean fairy tale her great-grandmother had told her and her mother before her about such a creature. Because it was told long ago, she has forgotten it completely. With the help of Young-Soon's mother and Young-Soon herself as translator, Heep learns that narf is a term for a rare type of nymph or water-faerie, which is occasionally sent from the "Blue World" to "awaken" a human (called a "vessel") who will help change the world for the better. He also learns that the lupine creature which frightened him is one of a race called "Scrunts", who try to kill any narf that leaves its world. The Scrunts are strong, vicious, and smart; furthermore, they appear to be covered with grass and can flatten themselves to hide completely from human view. To control these and other spirits exist three bloodthirsty, monkey-like creatures called "Tartutic", which are the only things that a Scrunt fears. After discovering this, Heep asks Story for the description of her human "vessel" so he can help find it; Story only knows that her vessel is a writer and that once she finds her vessel, she can be returned home by a gigantic eagle called "The Great Eatlon".
Heep asks tenants if they are writers, and he eventually finds out that Vick (M. Night Shyamalan), a young man who lives with his sister, Anna Ran (Sarita Choudhury), is presently writing, but suffers from writer's block. Believing that this tenant is Story's vessel, Cleveland arranges a meeting between the two. When he meets Story, Vick feels an "awakening" that clears his mind and allows him to complete his book, which is a compendium of his apparently clear-sighted political paradigm. Now that Story's task is accomplished, she is free to return to the Blue World.
As she attempts to go home that night, the Scrunt attacks her, breaking the law, and badly injures her. His reason for this is subsequently revealed by Young-Soon, who suggests that Story is a "Madam Narf"; a narf empowered to be a leader among her people, and thereby to threaten the Scrunts. Heep rescues Story, and the two of them escape into the apartment building. Judging that taking Story to his house is not worth the risk of meeting the Scrunt again, Heep instead takes Story upstairs to the apartment of Vick and his sister. When Story falls ill, Mr. Heep again turns to Young-Soon. He learns that a Scrunt carries a poison with the potential to kill a narf; a mud called "Kii", given to a narf before she leaves the Blue World, will neutralize the poison. Cleveland then dives to the bottom of the pool, where he presumes that Story had been living, and finds the Kii, almost drowning in the small room she had excavated as a result of becoming trapped by the faulty handle she had constructed. The Kii heals the narf, and Story survives to attempt her departure again.
During Story's healing process, Vick asks Story to foretell the events that will occur after he publishes his book, titled "The Cookbook". A prophecy follows:
"A boy in the Midwest of this land will grow up in a home where your book will be on the shelf and spoken of often. He will grow up with these ideas in his head. He will grow into a great orator. He will speak and his words will be heard throughout this land and throughout the world. This boy will become leader of this country and begin a movement of great change. He will speak of you and your words. Your book will be the seeds of many of his great thoughts. It will be the seeds of change..."
Later, Vick asks Story to answer these questions: How can his book effect such change without something dramatic taking place to have it gain attention? Why did the boy not search to meet him?
Story reveals that this boy will not be able to meet Vick, because Vick will have been killed by someone angered by his book. She reveals that Vick's sister will have seven children, of whom Vick will live to see two. She adds that though humans consider themselves alone, that which each one does affects all. Heep refuses to hear his own future from Story when she offers to reveal it.
Heep questions Young-Soon's mother for more information and finds that there are humans capable of helping a narf, called a Symbolist, a Guardian, a Guild, and a Healer. Needing to find these people to help Story, Heep consults someone he believes to be an expert on story-writing, a movie critic, Mr. Farber (Bob Balaban), who has recently become a tenant. Farber's comments on the probable casting of each role and the unoriginality of film-making lead Heep to erroneous conclusions as to the identities of the helpers. Heep therefore assumes that Mr. Dury (Jeffrey Wright) is the Symbolist (interpreter) because of his ability to decipher crossword puzzles; that Mrs. Bell (Mary Beth Hurt) is the Healer because a butterfly was attracted to her; and that he is himself the Guardian because of Story's trust in him. He assumes also that a group of marijuana smokers (played by Joseph Reitman, Jared Harris, Grant Monohon, John Boyd, and Ethan Cohn) are the Guild because they always sit together, talking as their minds wander, and seem to have no other role in life.
The Guild throws a party that the movie critic Farber believes is in his honor, with which the tenants are to be distracted while Story's friend the Great Eatlon comes for her; but things go wrong. The supposed Guild members are unable to have the band start their music on time, and they leave their posts to help a sick guest. Anna, who is watching for the Scrunt by means of a handheld mirror (without which it is nearly invisible, being camouflaged by the grass), is jostled, whereupon her mirror breaks, leaving her incapable of seeing the monster. This leaves Story completely vulnerable to the Scrunt, who strikes when everyone is momentarily distracted by a popping balloon. Heep saves Story from being dragged away by the Scrunt, but she is badly wounded, leaving her unconscious and near death. The helpers doubt that they are truly the ones meant to help Story because nothing is working out right. When they ask Heep the reasons for which he sought them out for their specific roles, he reveals his means without mentioning Mr. Farber's name. The tenants then question how a person could be so arrogant as to assume that he was able to "accurately predict the thoughts and actions of another human being".
The Scrunt enters the building during the party because the supposed Guild members watching the door fail to make sure of its closure. Shortly after this, Mr. Farber walks into a hallway occupied by the Scrunt. He sees it and makes a speech to the effect that in a family film having details parallel to those of his own recent history, in which no one has died, a disliked side-character (himself) is not to be killed, but will narrowly escape and learn a lesson. As Farber turns to run, the Scrunt attacks and apparently kills him (as the movie ends abruptly when the Great Eatlon carries Story away,it is unknown if he did survive the Scrunt attack). This proves again, that his assumptions are not always correct.
Heep realizes that he has not properly identified Story's helpers. The supposed Symbolist, Mr. Dury, realizes that his son Joey is the true Symbolist, citing Joey's habit of finding deep, hidden meanings in the images on cereal boxes. Joey, in turn, identifies the true Guild: seven "sisters" — so called because each one is someone's sister, regardless of her relationship to the other six. They are Vick's sister Anna; Young-Soon (whose older sister has earlier been stated to have married a dentist); and the five daughters of a neighbor (played by Maricruz Hernandez, Carla Jimenez, Natasha Perez, Monique Cornan, and Marilyn Torres). Required also are two witnesses; a man who has no secrets (attributed to the loquacity of his wife), Mr. Bubchik; and a man whose opinion Cleveland Heep respects, Mr. Leeds. When Mrs. Bell, whom Heep thought was the healer, reveals that the symbolic butterfly only arrived when Cleveland approached her, Heep comes to the realization that he is himself the Healer. With the help of the true Healer and Guild, Story is healed and revived.
The entire party then take her out to the poolside. By this time, Story's hair has become ash-blonde, contrasting with her first appearance (wherein her hair is black) and the scenes showing her in Cleveland's shower-bath (wherein it is dark red) and apparently indicating her progressively greater frailty. As the people approach the pool, the Scrunt attacks, but is held a captive by the gaze of Reggie (Freddy Rodriguez), a strong-armed athlete now revealed as the Guardian. Urged by Cleveland, Reggie advances toward the Scrunt, which backs away from him. Abruptly the Tartutic emerge from the nearby hedgerow, pounce on the Scrunt, beat it, and drag it back into the bush. The Great Eatlon successfully carries Story to the Blue World.
The movie was originally planned for Disney, as Shyamalan's previous four films. However, after showing Disney executives the script, they decided to pass on the project. Shyamalan was reportedly angry about the rejection, and presented the project to Warner Bros, who agreed to move forward; the events that led to the making of the movie were featured in a book, The Man Who Heard Voices, by Michael Bamberger.123
Shyamalan, who shoots in and around his hometown of Philadelphia, established a production facility at the Jacobson Logistics warehouse site in nearby Levittown, Pennsylvania, where sets for the apartment complex and a half city block of row houses were built. Occasional footage was shot inside the overflow area of the warehouse. Most of the filming was completed after work hours.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Paul Giamatti | Cleveland Heep/The Healer |
| Bryce Dallas Howard | Story |
| M. Night Shyamalan | Vick Ran/The Vessel |
| Sarita Choudhury | Anna Ran/Guild member |
| Cindy Cheung | Young-Soon Choi/Guild member |
| June Kyoto Lu | Mrs. Choi |
| Bob Balaban | Harry Farber |
| Jeffrey Wright | Mr. Dury |
| Noah Gray-Cabey | Joey Dury/The Interpreter |
| Freddy Rodriguez | Reggie/The Guardian |
| Bill Irwin | Mr. Leeds |
| Mary Beth Hurt | Mrs. Bell |
| Tovah Feldshuh | Mrs. Bubchik |
| Tom Mardirosian | Mr. Bubchik |
| Jared Harris | Goatee Smoker |
| John Boyd | One-Eyebrow Smoker |
| Ethan Cohn | Glasses Smoker |
| Grant Monohon | Emaciated Smoker |
| Joseph D. Reitman | Long-Haired Smoker |
| Maricruz Hernandez | Perez de la Torre Sister #1/Guild member |
| Carla Jimenez | Perez de la Torre Sister #2/Guild member |
| Natasha Perez | Perez de la Torre Sister #3/Guild member |
| Monique Curnen | Perez de la Torre Sister #4/Guild member |
| Marilyn Torres | Perez de la Torre Sister #5/Guild member |
| Lady in the Water | |||||
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| Soundtrack by James Newton Howard | |||||
| Released | July 18, 2006 | ||||
| Genre | Soundtrack | ||||
| Label | Decca | ||||
| Producer | Amanda Ghost Tom Herbers Oliver Leiber |
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| Professional reviews | |||||
| James Newton Howard chronology | |||||
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The soundtrack for The Lady in the Water was composed by James Newton Howard. The last four tracks are non-soundtrack songs from singer/songwriter Amanda Ghost, Indie rock band A Whisper in the Noise and rock 'n' roll revivalists Silvertide. Each of the four songs was originally written by Bob Dylan. Howard won the IFMCA Award for Best Film Score for Lady in the Water in 2006, as well as the awards for Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film, and Best Single Cue of 2006 for "The Great Eatlon"4.
Track Listing
Lady in the Water was critically panned around the time of its release. Of Shyamalan's role in the film, Mark Kermode said, "It's like someone pouring petrol over their heads and setting fire to themselves"5.
Variety magazine wrote a scathing advance review that appeared on July 16, 2006. Common complaints about the film were that little effort was put into getting the viewer to believe in the world, that few moments of the film could be taken seriously, and that Shyamalan was using the film as a form of self-indulgence; instead of having a minor cameo, as in most of his films, Shyamalan cast himself as a visionary whose writing changes the world, and included a film critic — portrayed as arrogant, self-assured, and passive — who is despised by the other characters and who ultimately is violently killed. Many reviewers attacked this self-indulgence: Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote of the story, "Apparently those who live in the water now roam the earth trying to make us listen, though initially it’s rather foggy as to what precisely we are supposed to hear — the crash of the waves, the songs of the sirens, the voice of God — until we realize that of course we're meant to cup our ear to an even higher power: Mr. Shyamalan"6.
Frank Lovece of Film Journal International said, "Fans of actor Paul Giamatti or of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan may get something out of Lady in the Water, a fractured fairy tale about a water nymph who comes to a Philadelphia apartment house to deliver an important message. Anyone else is likely to be perplexed by the muddled mythmaking or actively astonished at the self-indulgent ego of a writer-director-producer who casts himself in the role of a visionary writer whose martyrdom will change the world"7.
Michael Medved gave Lady in the Water one and a half stars (out of four) calling it, "... a full-out, flamboyant cinematic disaster, a work of nearly unparalleled arrogance and vapidity", adding that, "... Lady in the Water is all wet..."8.
Also panned was the fact that the film was based on a bedtime story Shyamalan told to his children; Pete Vonder Haar of Film Threat commented: "If Shyamalan is going to use his kids as a focus group for future projects, maybe he should start making movies for Nickelodeon already and stop wasting our time"; an ironic comment, considering Shyamalan's next project would be a live-action adaptation of Nickolodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender.9
CNN's Tom Charity, among many others, has called Lady in the Water the worst film of 2006. It was listed by Variety as one of the ten "biggest (financial) losers" of 2006.10
Not all reviews were negative: Harrison Scott Key wrote in World magazine that, "The plot turns into a puzzle... and it's quite fun to watch. Ultimately, the movie has us asking one of the most important questions an audience can ask: What happens next? And that makes it a good film" 11. Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe wrote that though the film is "built on too much ponderous self-regard ... [t]here is a good chunk of Lady in the Water that is simply too well made and affectingly acted to dismiss as a mere exercise in arrogance" 12.
In its opening weekend (21-23 July 2006), the film grossed a total of $18.2 million, placing third in the United States box office results for that weekend. It was M. Night's lowest opening for any of his five major films. Due to negative reviews and poor word-of-mouth, its second week fell sharply to $7.1 million, pushing its total to only $32.2 million. Its third weekend was no better, falling another 62.1% to $2.7 million. As of September 14, 2006, its total was $42.285 million.[1] In addition, the film only made $30.5 million in the foreign box office, pulling its tally to approximately $72.785 million internationally. The movie had an estimated budget of $70 million[2] for production and a further $70 million[3] in advertising costs.
This movie was released simultaneously on DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray from Warner Home Video on December 19, 2006.
The extras included on the DVD are:
Shyamalan, who credits the development of the movie to a bedtime story he told his children about what happens in their pool at night,13 wrote the 72-page children's book Lady in the Water: A Bedtime Story (Little, Brown, New York, ISBN 0-316-01734-5) to coincide with the movie. The book's illustrations were made by Crash McCreery. It was released on the same day as the film, on July 21, 2006.
The text of the book consists of a description of the narf, scrunt, Tartutic, and Eatlon, wherein their roles (which are identical to those in the film) are given in detail. Some details present in the book do not appear in the film: these include the description of the sensations experienced by a vessel upon its awakening, the statement that a narf's subterranean chamber is built so that it will collapse after the narf's departure, and the suggestion that a narf's presence causes lawn sprinklers to activate causelessly. Contrastingly, the roles of Madame Narf, Healer, Symbolist, Guild, and Guardian are only suggested and not stated openly.
The tone of the book resembles in some respects that of Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, sharing with it an air of unnerving mystery and a similar pace.
The Man Who Heard Voices (Gotham Books, New York, ISBN 1-59240-213-5), by Sports Illustrated writer Michael Bamberger, recounting the making of the film, was released July 20, 2006.
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