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
