Gothika (2003)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Mathieu Kassovitz

Writer (WGA):

Sebastian Gutierrez (written by)

Release Date:

21 November 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller | Mystery

Tagline:

Because someone is dead doesn't mean they're gone.

Plot:

Ghost story in which a repressed female psychiatrist wakes up as a patient in the very asylum where she worked with no memory of why she is there and what she has done.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Psychiatrist | Ghost | Blackout | Possession

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Halle Berry	...	Miranda Grey
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Pete Graham
Charles S. Dutton	...	Dr. Douglas Grey
John Carroll Lynch	...	Sheriff Ryan
Bernard Hill	...	Phil Parsons
Penélope Cruz	...	Chloe Sava
Dorian Harewood	...	Teddy Howard
Bronwen Mantel	...	Irene
Kathleen Mackey	...	Rachel Parsons
Matthew G. Taylor	...	Turlington
Michel Perron	...	Joe
Andrea Sheldon	...	Tracey Seavers
Anana Rydvald	...	Glass Cell Nurse
Laura Mitchell	...	Inmate
Amy Sloan	...	Inmate

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, brief language and nudity.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Japan:PG-12 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18PL | USA:R (certificate #40310) | France:-12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:15 | Spain:18 | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:14A | Germany:16 | Ireland:18 | Norway:15 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Hinchinbrook, Québec, Canada

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Halle Berry broke her arm filming a scene with Robert Downey Jr.. Downey was supposed to grab her arm and twist but twisted too hard and the arm snapped. Production was halted for eight weeks.

Goofs:

Continuity: The position of the cigar on Dr. Douglas Grey's desk.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Chloe: He came back again last night and tore me like paper. He opened me like a flower of pain, and it felt good. He sank into me and set me on fire, like he always does. Made me burn from the inside out.
Miranda: How did you know it was the devil?

Movie Connections:

References Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Soundtrack:

Behind Blue Eyes

Riveting Psychological Thriller!

"Gothika" proves that Halle Berry is more than just another pretty face. Her talent is equal to her drop dead good looks. Berry plays psychiatrist Dr. Miranda Grey who is content in her work at an asylum and happily married to her boss Dr. Douglas Grey (Charles S. Dutton). A colleague Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.) also has eyes for the comely doctor.

One night Miranda's world is turned upside down. As she is driving home from work in a rainstorm, she is suddenly confronted by a young girl (Kathleen Mackey) standing in the middle of the road. Miranda's car goes off the road but she manages to return to the young girl. The next thing we see is Miranda waking up in the asylum as a patient and not knowing why she is there. She is told that she is suspected of murdering her husband but can remember nothing.

Dazed and confused and unsure of who to trust, she begins to try and fill in the missing blanks of her memory. Has she really gone mad or did she actually commit the crime? She begins to have flashback visions, especially after she learns the identity of the girl on the road that night. Is there an element of the supernatural at work here or is Mranda actually going mad? Director Mathieu Kassovitz keeps us guessing right up to the surprise ending.

Berry gives a memorable performance as the confused doctor. She alternates between rational and irrational behavior in convincing fashion. Penelope Cruz plays a patient that Miranda had been treating and whom she meets "on the inside". Downey does the best he can with his part as the doctor who might know more about Miranda's situation than he lets on. John Carroll Lynch plays Sheriff Ryan who had been close personal friends with the Greys, and who turns on Miranda when she is charged with the murder of her husband. Others in the cast include Dorian Harewood as Miranda's lawyer and Bernard Hill as the chief psychiatrist.

There are elements of the supernatural mixed into the plot to be sure, but it is the lovely and talented Halle Berry that makes this film memorable.