While the OP’s interpretations are possible, there is nothing in the film that precluded supernatural elements, and I think he had dismissed the latter too easily. If postpartum depression was really supposed to explain everything that we see in the film, then I have to conclude that it is simply not a good film. Laura was diagnosed as having postpartum depression before the film was even half over, and if that was in fact correct, I would hardly consider it worth my time to spend another hour watching her descend into madness. The film would be somewhat more interesting if the ending was supposed to be ambiguous and left open for the viewer’s own interpretation.
In the film, there are many scenes that tend to support (or are at least consistent) with a supernatural interpretation. First, there was no proof that the doll was not evil. What caused Laura to pick up a doll left behind in the subway by a weird looking girl who pretended that she was carrying her own baby? Why did Laura show a fascination with the doll throughout the whole film? Why did the dog fear the doll and try to hide it with the garbage outside the house? Why did Laura bring the doll back, and then the dog was killed soon afterwards? When Laura bought a book on witchcraft, why were pictures of mice and the doll itself conveniently shown there? Laura was supposed to have killed her own baby, but we clearly see her carrying the doll to bury it. Even if we are supposed to see from Laura’s point of view, what caused her to kill the child whom she apparently loved? Was it possible that Jenny’s spirit was inside Laura?
Then who was Jenny? I believe she was the previous tenants’ teenage daughter who got pregnant and either had an abortion or killed her first-born. Was her spirit in the house or had it even got into Laura’s body? When the pest control guy found the diary, he was immediately trapped in the basement (as was Laura later). Still later, we see Laura reading Jenny’s diary and even writing on it as if she was Jenny herself - supporting the idea that she was possessed. Then after Laura buried her own baby, she put the diary back in the right place and seemed to have the look of content. She did not even know her own daughter’s name (Jessica), which suggests that she had been taken over by Jenny’s spirit.
Lastly, what was the role of Mrs. Kasperian? One possible interpretation is that she, being from Eastern Europe, understood – or at least believed in – evil spirits and had put the charms(?) under the baby’s crib to protect her. Note that the child cried whenever she was with Laura. Did she, like the dog, sense Jenny’s spirit inside her? On the other hand, the baby felt safe and comfortable with Mrs. Kasperian. The baby was killed only after the sitter was forced to go. In contrast to the OP, Mrs. Kasperian clearly believed in supernatural influence.
Of course, all the odd things that we see could be interpreted as just Laura’s hallucinations, but in that case I think there were too many red herrings for the film’s own good. There are just too many other unanswered questions. Was someone (and who?) trying to break into the house when Laura was alone with the baby? If everything was supposed to be explained by Laura's mental problems, then what caused her to kill the baby on the very day she was declared fit to leave the hospital?
From the above, I would say while we could see everything as being caused by Laura’s mental problems and hallucinations, a supernatural interpretation of the film could not be totally ruled out. But either way, it is not a good film.
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unagi69
14 years ago
@ HenryCW
When I saw the movie I was confused at what was happening but your comment really got me to think.
I came up with the following scenario.
As soon as Laura was thinking she might be pregnant Jennie (a teen who killed herself and her first born baby) begins trying to take control of her.this would be why she "showed herself to Laura and leaves some sort of relic (in the form of the doll) to strengthen her power over Laura.
The relic does not only influence Laura but also her husband. this would explain why he would choose exactly Jennies old houde to move to.
I complete agree with the part you write about the dog and the nanny as they just make sense.
The part where she thinks she is being attacken can , in my oppinion be explained like this. As Jennie is taking over but does not have complete control yet Laura thinks there is someone attacking her from the outside when she is really being attacked from the "inside" it could be compared to some sort of dual personality. the part of her that is not under control of jennie yet is hiding the baby and making her affraid, while at the same time the part of her that is under control of jennie is trying to attack the baby while it is not in the crib. I would think that Laura and Jennie hae the same level of control at this time and therefore would be switching control every second/minute.
the ending in my oppinion can be explained as followed. Jennie now almost has complete control over Laura and , with the of Mrs. Kasperian removed, she preoceeds the kill yet another first born. the scene where she is burying the baby is Lauras own interpertation of hat she is doing ) as she is still there but then in a numb/ constant dream state). Jennie then writes a chapter in her diary to close the circle. i believe that the next morning Jennie has left Lauras body/mind and the person waiking up is actually Laura. she interpeted everything as a bad dream or is actually unaware what has happened (like waking up from a coma). This would be why she is looking exhausted (apart rom a short night) and absolutely has no clue who jessica is. this could be explained by the fact that the spell or posession or supernatural was allready in place when she was in the subway before she knew she was pregnant.
Looking forward to any thoughts on this:)
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HenryCW
14 years ago
I agree that if one takes a supernatural interpretation of the film, then what we see is consistent with the idea that Jenny was gaining increasing control over Laura. If as you said Jenny killed both her child and herself, then (contrary to what the OP said)the girl that Laura saw on the train could not have been Jenny - unless she was a ghost. Perhaps Jenny's spirit was just inside the house, or perhaps her spirit and/or that of her dead child got into the doll. I don't think the husband was possessed, though he was certainly a bit uncaring. His main concern appeared to be work, though his wife was obviously having serious problems. If we accept that the girl on the train was not Jenny, then it could have been just coincidence that the couple moved into her old house.
One main problem of the "postpartum psychosis" interpretation is that we see Laura behaving strangely even before she had the baby - and in fact even before she discovered that she was pregnant
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