Customer Reviews

Silence Becomes You

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I don't understand why everyone was so confused by this film. I watched it beginning to end and was definately not staring at the screen dumbfounded. If you watched it and you got up a couple times to go to the bathroom or get something to eat and didn't pause it, then yeah, i can see where you might have missed a point somewhere. If you watched it all beginning to end and you didn't get it....you're not very bright. Now don't get me wrong. The movie definately has some aspects i didn't necessarily enjoy. Alicia Silverstone's character aggravates the crap out of me. If you havn't seen it yet and want to be surprised then don't read this because i'm about to ruin everything for you. Basically its 2 reclusive sisters living in a mansion alone. They had a strange upbringing by a crazy alchemist father. Assuming their parent's are dead, they've been left alone and have never really been apart of the real world so they have both remained incredibly childlike, often flashing back to themselves as children. They were taught about telepathy and mind powers from a young age by their father and seem to be able to communicate with each other that way. As adults they come up with a plan to find a man to impregnate one of them. they find Luke(joe anderson) in a bar and bring him home but the plan starts to backfire when Violet(silverstone)falls for him. Her sister, Grace, becomes jealous, feeling like Luke is stealing Violet from her so she seduces Luke to prove he's not that great. Anyway, at some point toward the end Luke starts to fight with Grace while Violet is away and he knocks over a candle into a bunch of oil paints causing a fire. Something explodes and flames engulf Luke, killing him. Earlier in the movie Violet finds she is pregnant but after Luke dies she has a miscarriage in the bath. but then you see a pregnant belly on Grace at the end as a result of her seduction. So at the end, Grace ended up getting the baby instead of Violet and it looks like Violet finally decides to leave home. Luke appears briefly in the passenger seat next to her, i think to show that having met him and with him in her thoughts she now has the courage to leave home and be apart of the world which is what he'd been begging her to do. But her character bothers me because she is the more childish of the 2. Grace is smarter and a bit more selfish and conniving. She is crazy and haunted by their father. Violet is a ditzy and naive in a way that I'm guessing is supposed to be charming but instead is just irritating. She too is haunted by their father but isn't crazy. So there you have it. I rather liked the movie, but I can see where others might not have. The movie is mostly just artsy I think.

All these bad reviews... I was absolutely spell-bound by this film! I loved it! I will admit that there were questions not answered but that was kind of the point.

All three actors, Alicia, Sienna, and Joe were brilliant. Their characters intertwine in this beautiful way though the personalities are so different.

Alicia Silverstone is Violet, who is almost child-like in her perception of things. She falls in love with a guy very different from her and her love for him slowly causes a riff between herself and her sister.

Sienna Guillory, who plays Grace, is devious, tortured, and I'm pretty sure insane. She seems to be haunted by their past a lot more than Violet. Why? I don't know. The scenes of her by herself are beautifully acted. Her character is very deeply developed and her plans about "Luke" go far beyond Violet's causing all kinds of things.

Joe Anderson plays Luke; the trapped male. He's an "I don't-give-a-damn-about-anything" type of character to begin. But as his attraction to Violet grows, his heart opens up to her and they share what I believe to be a very beautiful love.

The costumes are amazing! Beautiful and very fitting to the tone of the film. I loved everything about this movie and can't wait to watch it again!

I wanted to like this film. I was rooting for it. I love artsy sepia-toned horror films like LOST SOULS and THE RING and GOTHIKA -- but SILENCE BECOMES YOU is none of that.

It's not a horror film. It's hard to say what it is. I kept waiting for something to gel; a story, a theme, a point ... something! But NOTHING!

The events (it's hard to call this a story) concern two young women living alone in a mansion. Their father was an alchemist. They allude to a "plan," which seems to involve finding a young man to mate with so they can have a baby.

Well, one of the sisters picks up a drifter in a bar and takes him home. Then ... nothing much. Lots of talk and flashbacks and superimposed images. I mean LOTS of superimposed images, all throughout the film, but to no clear purpose.

We see images of the young women as children, superimposed all over the place. At one point, the man is asleep, then he's woken by one of the women as a child. But it means nothing. Is it a dream? A flashback? An imagining? Alchemical magic? Does it occur in the future? The past? Another dimension?

"Who is beside you?" the man asks without moving his lips.

"No one is beside me," the child answers.

"You're just a child," the man says.

"I am eternally a child," the child replies.

Uhm, okay.

These images (of the women, their parents, the young man) are constantly superimposed, with sounds too. LOTS of magical-poetic gibberish, with no clear rhyme or reason.

The film seems to borrow a bit from D.H. Lawrence's THE FOX in that these two women become jealous over the man.

All in all, a confusing mish-mash. Beautiful sets, photography, sepia colors, but so BORING as it's all for naught. Just gibberish, and superimposed images, and wandering in the snow, and just sheer nothing.

Yes, there's an ending. Or rather, the film ends. Don't ask me to explain it. There's a fire. Or was there? It seemed a big fire, but then the house seems unaffected. The man seems to have died, but later we see him superimposed beside one of the women. One seems to have lost her baby in childbirth (or did she?) while the other woman is pregnant. Was it all a dream? A magical alter-reality? Who knows!

I'm sure some people will be bowled over with stupefied admiration, but I like a story to go with all that pretty photography.

An artsy-fartsy, none-horror, sorta Jane Austin type Gothic suspense thriller (the women watch an Austin movie on TV), but really, WHAT IS IT?

An occult-magic undercurrent runs through this entire movie.

Beautifully made! Gorgeous colors and costumes caught my eye. Went back later to watch from the beginning and fell in love with the entire movie!

Perfectly cast and wonderful performances by all. A definate must see! Especially to watch the sisters learn their craft while young (via flash-backs), and then use their 'magic' during the movie.

The movie is definately visually appealing.
If you want this movie to make sense you're going to have to work to for it because the movie doesn't give any easy answers. This movie says a lot, about people, life, development, art....I could go on.
I was expecting some weird movie with maybe a few good sleazy scenes...I got that, and way more than I expected.
Overall I liked it, just don't watch it with any expectations.

Silence Becomes You is a beautifully shot, fantastically scored dark tale of innocence and seduction. Two sisters bring home a man on a dare. A game of chance spirals into higher and higher stakes and finally out of control. Alicia Silverstone's character Violet is child-like, emotionally reactive, charming, seductive and free-spirited. Sienna Guillory's Grace is cool, erotic, manipulative, brilliant and increasingly unhinged. Joe Anderson's Luke is the good looking drifter, funny, irreverent, angry and vulnerable who reveals a strong inner compass that leads us to an explosive and finally poignant ending. Like a sailor dragged to the shore by mermaids Luke is picked up and brought to the strange, colorful, dysfunctional paradise of the two sisters who's closeness is often telepathic. He can't believe his luck, at first. Gradually the house reveals the secrets of the past which haunt the present and as Luke gets drawn further and further into the web the fragile balance becomes increasingly disturbed. The sisters, hot-housed by their father, brilliantly played by Leigh Lawson, have been raised as experiments and ruthlessly surveyed. Their freedom is in theory as they live in the golden cage of their own psyche. Grace follows in her father's foot steps whereas Violet longs to escape into a 'normal life'. Luke is forced to feel with devastating but ultimately cathartic consequences. With a nod to the classic suspense movies of the 40's it is a good ride, engaging, suspenseful and ultimately satisfying.
P.S. I am clapping my hands for a comeback from Alicia Silverstone

I caught the last 30 minutes of "Silence Becomes You" on cable and was intrigued enough to order the DVD. The DVD would have benefited from a director's commentary as the film is annoyingly vague at times (even to me) and I imagine that most viewers would welcome some clarification.

My favorable first impression was probably a combination of the great production design, the excellent acting for the camera direction, and the understated yet inventive editing. It was filmed in Lithuania in HD video (said to be the first feature film with 100% digital cinematography), a technique that allowed the production staff to see each days rushes immediately so they could make timely rewrite and re-shoot decisions.

"Silence Becomes You" was written and directed by Stephanie Sinclaire, the Associate Artistic Director of the internationally known Kings Head Theatre in London. Her stage background shines through the production as all three of her main characters are given a nice multi-dimensionality. They are all flawed yet to varying degrees sympathetic.

Take the assorted plot summaries and comments about this film with a certain grain of salt. It is about two 20-something half-sisters (if you credit certain statements and make an inference) who are still living together in the estate where they grew up. Alicia Silverstone plays Violet and Sienna Guillory plays Grace.

They have decided that Violet should have a baby and lure a roguish drifter named Luke (Joe Anderson) to the estate for the purpose of getting her pregnant. There is a fourth character, the house, which exercises a considerable hold and influence over the two women. This relationship is represented by frequent memory flashbacks to their father and their childhood. The two young actresses who play them as little girls (most likely chosen for their physical similarity to Silverstone and Guillory) are convincingly directed by Sinclaire and their frequent appearances give the film a lyrical quality.

As in Terrance Mallick's "Days of Heaven" (1978), the four principal characters represent the four elements; earth (the house), water (Violet), fire (Grace), and wind (Luke). The principal dynamic being how the least transitory element holds the three elusive elements in place. Most of the complaints about the film seem to center on Sinclaire's frequent misdirection, the viewer only knows what she wants you to know and when she wants you to know it. There does seem to be vagueness for the sake of vagueness, or at least in the service of introducing complexity to a relatively simple story. The girls have a degree of paranormal skills and there is a strong mental connection between them; qualities that their alchemist father (lead into gold is his metaphor for reproduction) went to great trouble to develop. Sinclaire violates the language of film with this and with her inconsistent flashback techniques; confusing the viewer about what is real, what is mystical, what is a dream, and what is simply a memory. So the film is unable to decide between being a ghost story of a psychological melodrama. Yet in the end all this stuff fits into the final explanation so as long as you get it there is little cause for complaint.

This is a must see for Silverstone fans, by far the best thing she has ever done. Helped by an excellent acting for the camera director and a quality ensemble she is quite impressive. To me her face has always seemed slightly off-balance, making her an excellent fit playing a character that is somewhat off-kilter.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

My wife and I rented this movie, expecting to see a quirky thriller...well, quirky we got. Thrills we didn't. This was a pointless film, unless you like movies without a point--in that case, "art film" might describe it. It's something that Roger Ebert might have given a "thumbs-up" to, but that usually means that it's dull, depressing, and/or Oscar worthy. This film might fit the first two, but it's about as Oscar worthy as "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes." When it hits the $5.00 bin at Wal-Mart, offer them a dollar for it--and keep the receipt!

This movie will leave you staring dumbfounded at your screen in disbelief - that you actually sat through 88 minutes of this appalling excuse for entertainment. The characters were as superficial as the plot was non-existent. A couple of cuss words and Sienna Guillory's breasts were thrown in to give it an R rating but truthfully the DVD box should have carried a government health warning. Whatever you do DO NOT buy this movie. Don't even waste the time or money renting it. Alicia Silverstone and Joe Anderson fail to explore their relationship in any dimension whatsoever, and resort to repeated meant-to-be passionate clinches because they literally have nothing to say to each other. And that's it!

There's more than a few reviews out there that rip this film to pieces, but I can't bring myself to join in with that crowd.

Silence Becomes You has its flaws. I won't deny that. It's a movie that sort of feels fake most of the time, like you're watching a play take place, but I might be confusing that with a really good visual presentation. The voice acting and the way the women presented themselves certainly *felt* like I was watching a play.

Anyway, the storyline is about two women who take in a drifter to their HUGE mansion located in the middle of a field (who happens to be a young man around the same age as the women).

He quickly becomes interested in one of the girls much more than the other one, which leads the other young girl to become quite upset and jealous by this. Throughout the film you can sense an increase in jealousy from the girl as she repeatedly stands by and watches make out scenes, and eventually reaches a boiling point... except when that time came, she didn't come across as particularly violent. She just came across as weird, because the movie producers made one weird movie with this one.

The film liked to jump around between all sorts of weird camera angles that dealt with the girls past, and how they were treated by their father. It was rather odd though, and more confusing than anything else.

Still, it wasn't a bad movie. It was just very different. I'm glad I watched it at least.