Speak No Evil
Speak No Evil
When an American family is invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic country estate of a charming British family they befriended on vacation, what begins as a dream holiday soon warps into a snarled psychological nightmare. As the weekend progresses, they realize that a strange side lies within the family who invited them: the untrammeled hospitality of the charismatic, alpha-male estate owner masks an unspeakable darkness.
Kevin Ward reviewed3d ago
Really conflicted on this because I loved McAvoy’s performance and perhaps McKenzie Davis’s even more, but felt like the core elements that make this story worth telling at all were done so much better in the original film. McAvoy’s Paddy in particular is much more brash and antagonistic from the get-go that challenged believability that Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise (Davis) would choose to spend any time with this family. In the Danish original, Patrick/Paddy and Karin/Ciara go to much greater lengths to ingratiate themselves to the Dalton’s. It was actually kind of fascinating to me how different the Paddy character comes off despite following almost the exact same beats of the original. One of the first interactions in this new film has the Dalton’s letting their daughter Agnes ride on a moped without a helmet in a foreign country with a total stranger. There’s just no world where I let that happen. I know the whole point is that Paddy and Ciara are pushing the limits of what abuses people are willing to accept out of politeness and/or fear of speaking out, but the Danish film really did a much better job of believably easing the Dalton’s into tougher confrontational moments.
Obviously, the other big change is the ending. And I certainly see the appeal of this changed ending. It’s far, far less bleak than the original, and admittedly it’s almost satisfying. But as much of a downer the original ending is, it really felt like a poetic (rather Biblical) ending to have them (spoilers ahead) stripped to the nude and stoned to death. That is a method of execution used to purge evil from the community. The Danish film is clearly critical of the Dalton’s behavior, their willingness to look the other way and not stand up to the abuses being committed. 🙈🙉🙊 See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil. And while the American ending doesn’t absolve the Dalton’s or wrongdoing here, it certainly gives them a much better out than their Danish counterparts.
Sure the new ending more satisfying to an extent and get why that decision was made for an American theatrical release, but I think the original film’s ending has more to say, and left a lasting impression on my mind. There’s not much of anything that happens in the final act of the new one that will stay with me the way the original did.