8 / 10
The Others is Alejandro Amenábar’s 2001 Spanish-American supernatural horror film depicting Grace Stewart, a mother protecting her photosensitive children in an isolated Jersey mansion after World War II, while waiting for her missing husband to return from war. Nicole Kidman plays Grace Stewart. Fionnula Flanagan plays Mrs. Mills. Christopher Eccleston plays Charles Stewart. Alakina Mann plays Anne Stewart. James Bentley plays Nicholas Stewart. Eric Sykes plays Mr. Tuttle. Elaine Cassidy plays Lydia. The screenplay was written by Alejandro Amenábar. Cruise/Wagner Productions, Sogecine, and Las Producciones del Escorpión produced the film for international theatrical release in August 2001. The Others was Amenábar’s first English-language feature after his previous Spanish-language productions including Tesis (1996) and Open Your Eyes (1997).
The Others operates as classical ghost-story production in the tradition of The Innocents (1961) and The Haunting (1963), with full commitment to atmospheric tension over explicit horror. The film’s specific photosensitive-children premise gives the production its sustained low-light visual register, with substantial portions of the running time taking place by candlelight or in darkness illuminated only by oil lamps. The closing-reel revelation that Grace and her children have been dead throughout the running time operates in deliberate dialogue with the 1999 Sixth Sense, with The Others arriving two years after Shyamalan’s twist-ending success and contributing to the post-Sixth-Sense twist-ending production wave.
Nicole Kidman’s Performance
Nicole Kidman’s Grace Stewart is one of her strongest dramatic performances. The character must operate as devoutly religious mother trying to maintain household order in her husband’s absence while her children develop increasingly disturbing claims about people in the house. Kidman tracks Grace’s gradually accumulating fear without breaking the character’s surface composure, which is the performance’s particular accomplishment.
Kidman’s certain physical restraint, the careful upper-class English vocal register, the sustained maternal protectiveness against threats Grace cannot identify, all combine to produce a performance that gives the surrounding atmospheric horror its distinct dramatic anchor. The closing-reel revelation depends substantially on Kidman’s earlier work having established Grace as fundamentally sympathetic, which makes the revelation tragic rather than only structurally surprising.
For Writers
Ghost-story protagonists work best when actors maintain composed surface presentation while accumulating internal fear that the audience perceives despite the character’s resistance to acknowledging it. Kidman’s Grace demonstrates the technique throughout the film.
The Photosensitive-Children Premise
Amenábar’s screenplay establishes that Anne and Nicholas Stewart suffer from xeroderma pigmentosum, requiring sustained avoidance of direct sunlight. The premise gives the production major visual constraint: most of the running time takes place in heavily curtained rooms illuminated by oil lamps or candles. The atmospheric register is fundamental to the film’s identity and supports the eventual ghost-story revelation.
Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe handles the photosensitive constraint with real craftsmanship. The candle-lit interior sequences produce particular tonal warmth alongside certain psychological isolation, with Grace and her children operating in interior space that the production renders as both safe haven and trap. The visual style has been substantially imitated by subsequent ghost-story productions without successful replication.
For Writers
Production-design constraints can become aesthetic strengths when the screenplay integrates them into the film’s central architecture. The Others’s photosensitive premise generates the visual style that the closing-reel revelation requires.
The Closing-Reel Revelation
The film’s closing-reel revelation that Grace murdered her children and herself, and that the family has been haunting the new living occupants of the house throughout the running time, operates as deliberate dialogue with The Sixth Sense’s structural achievement. The Others arrived two years after Shyamalan’s 1999 production and contributed to the post-Sixth-Sense twist-ending wave that dominated mainstream horror through the early 2000s.
Amenábar’s distinct twist works because the screenplay distributes signals throughout the running time that support both readings simultaneously. The family’s never having sunlight, the strange noises Grace cannot identify, the daughter Anne’s claims about people in the house, the absent husband, all carry double-meaning that the revelation activates. The Others stands alongside The Sixth Sense as one of the strongest examples of dual-reading screenplay architecture.
For Writers
Genre productions operating in dialogue with recent successful predecessors must distinguish themselves through particular structural achievements rather than direct imitation. The Others’s twist-ending structure differs from The Sixth Sense’s while operating within the same broader genre conversation.
Craft Note
Amenábar produced the film through his Sogecine production company with significant creative control. The production cost approximately seventeen million dollars and grossed over two hundred ten million worldwide, an enormous return that confirmed Amenábar’s commercial viability as English-language director. The film won eight Goya Awards including Best Film and Best Director. Tom Cruise produced through his Cruise/Wagner Productions company despite not appearing in the film. Amenábar subsequently directed Mar adentro (2004) and Agora (2009) among other productions.
Verdict
The Others is one of the strongest classical ghost-story productions of the contemporary era and a worthy successor to the Henry James adaptation tradition that The Innocents built in 1961. Nicole Kidman’s lead performance, Alejandro Amenábar’s atmospheric direction, and the closing-reel revelation combine to produce a horror film with considerable lasting cultural standing. Strongly recommended.
FAQ
Who directed The Others?
Alejandro Amenábar directed the film and wrote the screenplay. It was his first English-language feature after his earlier Spanish-language productions Tesis (1996) and Open Your Eyes (1997).
Did The Others win Academy Awards?
No. The Others received no Academy Award nominations. The film won eight Goya Awards in Spain including Best Film and Best Director.
How does The Others relate to The Sixth Sense?
Both films feature closing-reel revelations about characters being dead. The Others arrived two years after The Sixth Sense and contributed to the post-Sixth-Sense twist-ending wave in early-2000s horror cinema.
Is The Others based on a story?
The screenplay is original to Amenábar but draws substantially on the Henry James novella The Turn of the Screw and the broader Victorian ghost-story tradition.
Where was The Others filmed?
Primarily in Cantabria, Spain, with the mansion exteriors at Palacio de los Hornillos. The Spanish location stood in for the Jersey setting of the screenplay.
Did Tom Cruise act in The Others?
No. Tom Cruise produced the film through his Cruise/Wagner Productions company but did not appear in the production. He was married to Nicole Kidman at the time of production.
What is the film’s rating?
The Others is rated PG-13 for thematic elements and frightening moments.