IMDb > Lady in the Water (2006)
Lady in the Water
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Lady in the Water (2006) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 43 | slideshow) Videos (see all 16)
Lady in the Water (2006) -- Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with
Lady in the Water (2006) -- Clip: Cleveland Run!
Lady in the Water (2006) -- Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with
Lady in the Water (2006) -- Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with
Lady in the Water (2006) -- CineMagia.ro - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
5.9/10   43,879 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 6% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
M. Night Shyamalan
Writer (WGA):
M. Night Shyamalan (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Lady in the Water on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 July 2006 (USA) more
Genre:
Mystery | Thriller more
Tagline:
Time is running out for a happy ending. more
Plot:
Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
2 wins & 3 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(30 articles)
Top 7 Movies That Make The End of the World Sound Hilarious
 (From Scorecard Review. 13 November 2009, 2:18 PM, PST)
M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Devil’ Headed for the Screen [Updated]
 (From Screen Rant. 16 October 2009, 8:48 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
One bizarre evening more (1010 total)
US TV Schedule:
Sun. Nov. 296:00 AMMAX   

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Paul Giamatti ... Cleveland Heep

Bryce Dallas Howard ... Story

Jeffrey Wright ... Mr. Dury
Bob Balaban ... Harry Farber
Sarita Choudhury ... Anna Ran

Cindy Cheung ... Young-Soon Choi

M. Night Shyamalan ... Vick Ran

Freddy Rodríguez ... Reggie
Bill Irwin ... Mr. Leeds
Mary Beth Hurt ... Mrs. Bell

Noah Gray-Cabey ... Joey Dury

Joseph D. Reitman ... Long Haired Smoker

Jared Harris ... Goatee Smoker
Grant Monohon ... Emaciated Smoker
John Boyd ... One-Eyebrow Smoker
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for some frightening sequences.
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
110 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
SDDS | Dolby Digital EX | DTS-ES
Certification:
Singapore:PG | Malaysia:U | Ireland:12A | UK:PG | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #42716) | India:U | Australia:PG | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Hong Kong:IIA | Finland:K-11 | Argentina:16 | Germany:12 | Brazil:10 | Netherlands:12 | Hungary:14 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Sweden:11 | Italy:T | South Korea:All | Canada:G (Québec) | New Zealand:PG
Filming Locations:
Levittown, Pennsylvania, USA more
Company:
Warner Bros. Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Night's wish list for his various male supporting roles included names such as William Hurt, Sidney Poitier, Chris Cooper, Gene Wilder, Terrence Howard, Alec Baldwin, Vince Vaughn, Forest Whitaker, and Don Cheadle among others. more
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At the party, the Long-Haired Smoker is seen with the tags still on his polo shirts. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Cleveland Heep: Once, man and those in the water were linked. They inspired us. They spoke of the future. Man listened and it became real. But man does not listen very well. Man's need to own everything led him deeper into land. The magic world of the ones that lived in the ocean...
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Supernatural: The Monster at the End of This Book (#4.18)" (2009) more
Soundtrack:
Flowers more

FAQ

Is the story here actually based on a Chinese folk tale?
What is a scrunt?
What is Kii?
more

User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
134 out of 210 people found the following comment useful.
One bizarre evening, 2 August 2006
Author: mstomaso from Vulcan

I can't rate this film.

When I go to see a Shyamalan film, I expect to be entertained and stimulated, but I never know exactly how this will be accomplished. Shyamalan's films use ambiguity aesthetically and he draws his audience through the seduction of interpretive participation. Of all of his films, perhaps Lady in the Water does this most profoundly. Although I understood the entire film - the plot, the themes, the method - I walked away asking "what the hell did I just see?" It's easy enough to categorize the film. Lady in the Water is an absurdist comedy. But it makes you ask yourself why you are laughing. With Shyamalan's talent as it is, it is impossible for me to believe that any aspect of the humor of this film was unintentional. Yet the other side of LITW is dark fantasy, in the tradition of Michael Cohn's Snow White.

With a cast David Lynch would have been happy with, Shyamalan tells a fable from East Asia as it is experienced by a superintendent (Giamatti) at an apartment complex full of mundanely odd characters. A strange and beautiful young woman (Howard) has emerged from the complex's pool, apparently seeking contact with the surface world so she can find folkloric archetypes who can protect her from the evil creatures that hunt her and return her to her world beneath the waves.

Giamatti, Howard, and Shyamalan himself are all very entertaining. Howard - a very unusual looking and uniquely pretty woman - is shot so beautifully that it is very difficult to take your eyes off of her. M. Night's performance is so bizarre, it is hard to tell whether or not he is acting.

LITW is definitely the strangest film I have seen from Shyamalan. I have been up and down with him since the beginning of his career, enjoying his early films, very much disliking Signs, and being impressed with the Village. I believe that with the Village and LITW, M. Night is establishing a new and unique direction for himself. And if he keeps going this way, I will gladly follow.

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Recent Posts (updated daily)User
so why is it so bad wythedavis
Yet again, James Newton Howard was snubbed!! mitch_rh
Opening scenes narration steveb_007
Why You Shouldn't Hate This Film alerasoul
people who understood it - convince me (no haters plz) weemac1
Am I the only one to find this creepy?... rawvans
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