The Brøken (2008)

Director:

Sean Ellis

Writer:

Sean Ellis (written by)

Release Date:

15 November 2008 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Face your fears.

Plot:

In London, the radiologist Gina McVey organizes a surprise birthday party to her father John McVey with her boyfriend Stefan Chambers...

Plot Keywords:

Mystery Woman | Car Accident | Radiologist | Nightmare | Broken Mirror

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Lena Headey	...	Gina McVey
Ulrich Thomsen	...	Dr. Robert Zachman
Melvil Poupaud	...	Stefan Chambers
Michelle Duncan	...	Kate Coleman
Asier Newman	...	Daniel McVey
Richard Jenkins	...	John McVey
Daren Elliott Holmes	...	Simon the Garage Manager
Howard Ward	...	Jim
Damian O'Hare	...	Anthony
Dennis Banks	...	Doorman
In-Sook Chappell	...	Crash Nurse
Peta Longstaff	...	A&E Team
Ziad Alyan	...	A&E Team
Lucy Bingham	...	A&E Team
Marie Flood	...	A&E Team

Also Known As:

The Broken (France) (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence, brief sexuality/nudity and language.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Japan:PG-12 | USA:R | France:U (with warning) | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Singapore:NC-16 | Netherlands:16 | Germany:16 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Bayswater, London, England, UK

Company:

Gaumont

Trivia:

The inventive spelling of the title reads somewhat silly in Norwegian and Danish since the Ø in broken is a letter in the alphabet in these languages and sounds like the "u" in "burden". In addition "brøken" is a Norwegian word meaning "the fraction".

Goofs:

Continuity: When Gina wakes up and sits on the edge of the bed you can see she is topless. if you look closely you can tell she is wearing panties, and still appears to be when she leaves the room. When the camera goes to show her walking through her house her naked butt is visible, so what happened to the panties?

Quotes:

[Gina is studying a set of chest X-rays in her office when Jim approaches and looks at them as well]
Gina McVey: Who are these for?
Jim: Dr. Waters.
Gina McVey: Interesting.
Jim: What?
Gina McVey: Well, do you notice anything?
Jim: They're back to front?
Gina McVey: No, look. Left and right tags.
Jim: The heart's on the right side of the body?
Gina McVey: [Nodding] Dextrocardia with situs inversus. It's not uncommon, but it's pretty rare. One in every thousand.

Soundtrack:

Are You Drunk Enough?

Enjoyable and almost intriguing, but definitely incomplete.

From the beginning this film had an eerie dark feel which I love, although the first half is quite slow and I was disappointed with the numerous musical pieces that lead me to believe something was about to happen, but did not. The story itself tells little about anything, and of course makes no sense, even the characters or the menacing force that's intruding into their lives is faceless, but I will say it has a "body snatchers" and "the astronaut's wife" feel. I understood the ending, but it still leaves one to wonder what the hell was going on. It's one of those films where you kinda want a sequel to continue the story in hopes of understanding it, but at the same time you know one is not coming, and even if one was, the characters are all pretty much used up anyway. For an independent psychological horror I loved it, but it leaves one asking for more than they should have to. Maybe that's the idea of the film. For me this film is conflicting, I originally gave it a 6 but had to bump it up.