Review: The Little Stranger

Image courtesy of Focus Features.

Lenny Abrahamson's "The Little Stranger" is an elegant and occasionally creepy, but often cold to the touch, gothic thriller that takes a little too long to get where it's going. Although the film is technically a ghost story, it is often more interesting when it is examining the British class system in the early 20th century.

At the film's center is a rural doctor named Faraday (Domhnall Gleeson), who has been hired by a very rich family in a sprawling mansion that the doctor himself had visited as a boy. The house clearly left a huge impression on young Faraday, who recalls being at a celebration on its grounds, and he is quickly drawn in by the home and its family following a house call he is making to tend to Roderick Ayres (Will Poulter), a young man brutally scarred by World War I.

At first, Roderick's behavior might lead one to think that he has psychological problems to match the horrific scars on his face, body and legs. But as it turns out, something is haunting Roderick and, eventually, all of the Ayres, which include frosty matriarch Mrs. Ayres (Charlotte Rampling) and daughter Caroline (Ruth Wilson), with whom Faraday strikes up a friendship that eventually turns into something else.

We are shown a pivotal flashback scene in which young Faraday was spotted by a young Ayres girl, who is now dead, as he broke off a piece of the home's banister and kept it for himself. His mother, who was also taken with the house and worked in it as a servant, spots her son and strikes him across the face. All those years ago, Faraday and his mother were envious of the Ayres, and the doctor has ever since wanted to fit in with their society.

Other bizarre occurrences take place - a young girl is mauled by a dog and Rampling's character begins to be tormented by some type of force. There's a particularly creepy sequence during which she thinks she hears noises in an empty room, and then becomes locked in as the doors violently shake. There's a twist, of sorts, at the end that sort of explains what is going on here, although one's interpretation might vary with one's imagination.

But ultimately, this is a subtle haunted house movie that is more interested in exploring issues relating to class. There are some interesting concepts at play regarding this theme, but "The Little Stranger" creeps along at an unhurried pace to get there, occasionally to its detriment. This is the type of film in which I can admire the craft and performances - especially Gleeson as the tightly wound doctor - even if the end result is a mixed bag.