who nurtures and protects her children. The Others is a supernatural thriller film written and directed by Alejandro Amenabar. The film focuses on maternal horror and psychological horror, starring Nicole Kidman who plays the mother role of Grace Stewart. Grace is a devout Catholic who lives with her two children, Anne and Nicholas, in an old, secluded mansion. In the film, Grace is an emotionally complexed mother who drives the suspense and mystery within the plot. Her dysfunctionality and mental instability leads to psychotic behaviors that endanger and harm her own children. Ultimately, Grace’s desire to protect her children, her strong religious beliefs, and the absence of her husband becomes the source of dysfunctionality and monstrosity within herself and her family. Desire can be dangerous when it is not controlled; if it goes overboard, it can lead to evil and immorality.
In The Others, Grace’s children, Anne and Nicholas, suffer from a disease, in which they are photosensitive; the children cannot be exposed to more light than a lantern. The disease will cause them to break out in sores and blisters and suffocate, which will eventually become fatal. Due to the children’s condition, Grace garners a strong maternal desire to protect her children from any exposure to sunlight. In doing so, she prohibits her children from going outside and isolates them from the outside world by locking them inside the old, secluded mansion. Initially, Grace is characterized as a “good” mother; she is willing to isolate herself and her family from society in order to protect her children. At one scene, she even mentions that she will never endanger her children and is willing to die for her children’s safety. In fear of her children’s endangerment, she will always appear by their side when her children are screaming in terror. In spite of her excessive love and protection, her oppressive obsession of her children ultimately led her into becoming a “bad” mother, resulting in the maternal horror depicted in the
film.
A “bad” mother diverges from the standard portrayal of motherhood. In The Others, Grace develops a fetishism for her children, in which she becomes overly obsessed with protecting and nurturing her children. She has a strong desire to shelter her children within the home, isolating them from any social interactions in the outside world. Yet, this strong desire backfires adversely as the film progresses towards the climax. This strong desire eventually compels her character to unfold the “bad” mother within her. As the intruders’ presence becomes more prominent within the house, Grace begins to become more uneasy and apprehensive because her children are being threatened and put at risk. Grace’s overprotection of her children and her fear of the “ghosts” intruding their home necessitates Grace into becoming more demanding, controlling, and. The imbalance of her mentality that results from her trepidation causes the mother to hallucinate and ultimately, harm her own children unknowingly.
In the film, there is a particular haunting scene in which Grace’s desire to protect her children results in physical abuse on her own children. The scene portrays her daughter Anne dressed in a beautiful white dress with a veil masking her face, while Anne plays with a puppet depicted as an old woman. Upon her return, Grace is unable to recognize her own daughter, as her daughter has been “possessed” by an old woman. Petrified and disoriented, Grace acts aggressively and violently towards the old woman, only to later realize that the “old woman” is actually her own daughter. This unsettling scene characterizes Grace as a dysfunctional and “bad” mother, because not only was she unable to protect Anne, but she also physically harmed and frightened her daughter. When Grace realized that Anne was “possessed” by the old woman, she realized that she had failed to protect her daughter from the “ghosts.” Her obsession and anxiety led to a disarray of emotions led her to act unconsciously and unintentionally. As she was unable to fulfill her role as the mother and satisfy the role of an ideal mother, her unstable mentality compelled her to use violence. Her desires coerced her into a monstrous mother; hence, enclosing her children within the house only further endangered the children. As a single mother, Grace becomes overwhelmed with the responsibilities of taking over both the maternal and paternal role in the household, causing a disparity among her emotions and mentality.