The Quiet

Laughable psychodrama.

In retrospect, it is Belle who manages to acquit herself best with a role that never quite makes sense, but affords her some expressive, silent sequences. Surely she will find other film work and then quietly drop The Quiet from her biography.

Perhaps future generations of film scholars will embrace The Quiet as a B-movie that problematizes the oppressive gaze, but for now, it's a misfire.

Rather than an indictment of depravity, the movie quickly becomes a particularly cynical example of it.

The exposition is so heavy-handed, the producers might just as well distribute a printed handout to hapless ticket buyers.

Bordering on camp and loaded with lesbian undertones, this wretched drama plays like a high-school horror flick that trades monsters and mayhem for an overdose of force-fed cruelty.

While The Quiet is overly stylized at times in an attempt to create an ominous mood, the set design and lighting are no more than minor distractions from the rather unsettling tale that unfolds.

Nothing this salacious should be this boring.

The Quiet may be a mess, but it's an exceedingly entertaining one, with a host of fine actors keeping their characters on as tight a leash as a film heading for this particular kind of crash landing allows.

A hilariously bad and utterly ridiculous piece of melodrama touted as a thriller.