MovieChat Forums > The Others (2001) Discussion > my interpretation

my interpretation

posted 9 years ago by BrendanFrye
8 replies | jump to latest

the family has been dead for a week. one day, nicole kidman goes crazy because of the stress of the disease her kids have, no husband, etc. so she kills them and the servants disappear because they are now in separate worlds and they don't sense them because they probably left after discovering the body. she tries to send the mail, and of course the mail man doesn't come. the new servants come because they discover new ghosts, and slowly try to ease her into the reality that she is a ghost. the fog is only for the ghosts - "it's never lasted this long before". the husband is dead, and when he comes back to say goodbye, anna tells him that the mom attacked her. since they can see him, they are dead, and he puts two and two together and realizes that she killed them.

great film, just saw it today

[–] psdhart 9 years ago

pretty much spot on

but at the end, when the three are at the window and fade, do they move on as it were, or do they go on haunting the house?

[–] oprlvr33 9 years ago

Most insightful

Our interpretation was similarly close...

Grace (Kidman) murdered her children after finding out that her war-torn, missing husband had died during battle, or what...severely depressed that newly-widowed, she couldn't bare raising her children without him. The *returning servants* were the symbolism (if you would) that she was not alone, but indeed battling her delusions (of being deceased) ...hence Bertha's decision to unveil the earth-covered gravestones, to eventually display to Grace (the unfortunate reality). But yet, respectfully supporting Grace during her (later realized) delusion, that she (and the children) were in fact 'the others'.

Interesting and clever plot twist indeed

Peanutlee33

[–] getmeout 8 years ago

I don't think that Grace knew her husband had gotten killed until after she realized she was dead. Then she knew it because since he was there and she was dead, that meant he was dead also. In afterlife Grace stated the war was over to her husband's ghost when he said he was going back. The children told the servant that their father was at war in France. Grace told the servant before her husband came back that she had gotten no news about her husband when asked about him. I think the war was over for a long time and he never returned to them. It was part of what drove her mad.

[–] plasmic_steve 8 years ago

I don't think the kids really had any disease. I think that was a metaphor for her keeping their murders hidden from herself. Once Grace is forced to remember, they no longer have an issue with the sunlight.

[–] Legendary_Badass 8 years ago

I like the OP's interpretation, very much like mine. However, I'm uncertain if the servant ghosts appeared to guide this new ghost trio or because they knew the house had been sold and will soon be reverse haunted.

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[–] djgjd 8 years ago

No one will believe me on this, I have posted it several times. The servants left first. Then Grace killed the children.

Anne asks Mrs. Mills if she is going to leave. She says no. Anne says, "that's what the other servants said, then they left and Mummy went mad."

Here is a clip of the scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgcSs9Qt2vU

[–] Legendary_Badass 8 years ago

Good point, but something is amiss. The servants should have vanished from Grace's perspective when she died, not before. She dies, wakes up a ghost, realizes the servants are gone and assumed they ran away not knowing that she couldn't see them as they were still alive.

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[–] djgjd 8 years ago

The first time I saw it, I thought the same thing. She thought the servants left because she didn't know she was a ghost and just could not see them.

After rewatching it, I caught Anne saying the servants left, then Mummy went mad.

The servants leaving was "the last straw" that drove Grace over the edge and make her kill the children. She was alone in the house with no help to cook or clean or help make sure the children were not exposed to light. The island was occupied by the Nazis, and she could not flee like the others because of the children.

The servants leaving is an important event, because it led to them all becoming ghosts. If Grace were not all alone she would not have killed the children and herself.