Day 114: Hide and Seek

In order to make a fresh start away from the memories of his wife’s suicide, David (Robert De Niro) takes his daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning) off into the country to live in a new house. Emily is having a difficult time with the death of her mother and she ends up with an imaginary friend, Charlie, who gets progressively more violent. But Charlie might not be so imaginary after all.

I’m not really sure how accepting I’d be if my child had an imaginary friend. It would freak me out just so much, I don’t think I’d handle it well. I’m always freaked out anyway by children’s mad ability to see ghosts and whatever. When my nephew was younger, he’d stand up in his cot and stare up into the corner of the ceiling and giggle. Like, no thank you, I don’t want any of that. Obviously in this film it’s a bit different in that (spoilerspoiler) Charlie is actually Emily’s dad, David. He caught his wife cheating on him and, I’m not sure if that’s when Charlie became real for him but it was Charlie who then killed the wife and made it look like a suicide. Then Charlie would play with Emily and tell her things to try and upset David. Eventually David works it out but then he fully becomes Charlie and is just really creepy and trying to murder everyone. He’s chasing Emily but her psychologist, Katherine (Famke Janssen), saves the day. Actually, on second thoughts, I’d much prefer an imaginary friend over a murdery person. Maybe.

I always like it in fiction when someone has Dissociative Identity Disorder. I know it’s such a cliché but it’s just so interesting. De Niro does the difference well, he doesn’t go too over-the-top with Charlie but just manages to add a little danger to his eyes and voice.

7/10