After the death of her father, Dot (Practical Magic’s Camilla Belle) is sent to live with her godparents, Paul (Insomnia’s Martin Donovan) and Oliva Deer (Edie Falco from The Sopranos), much to the disgust of their spoiled, cheerleader daughter Nina (House of Wax star Elisha Cuthbert).
Annoyed with taking in a “retarded” outcast (Dot is a deaf mute), Dot’s entire existence annoys Nina who, with her promiscuous friend Michelle (Katy Mixon from Mike & Molly), make fun of her endlessly. It’s tough enough for the grieving Dot, but being a silent witness, she observes the Deer family, and their perfect, affluent lifestyle is clearly marred by more than alcoholism and disfunction. There’s a disturbing incestuous relationship between Nina and her father – and when Nina confides in Dot that she plans on killing him for the lecherous perversion he subjects her to, Dot reveals she has some secrets of her own.
The Quiet (2005)
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A predictable script by Abdi Nazemian and Micah Schraft is held aloft by a noir-ish directing style by But I’m a Cheerleader’s Jamie Babbit, and great performances by Belle and Cuthbert, whose chemistry and nuance speak volumes through expressions and whole “conversations” with glances and eye contact. They have a highwire act in The Quiet that could have gone either into Shakespearian tragedy dramatics, or a disassociation that comes across bored or blasé when compared to the disturbing material and dialogue. Belle’s Dot is disassociated, but the talented young actress has a way of emoting with her eyes that speaks volumes, while Cuthbert, saddled with the cheerleader equivalent of a film-noir femme fatale could easily have vamped it up to a level of absurdity and really tore into the dialogue with a Sharon Stone-like fervor. Instead, it’s a calculated performance that’s as seductive as it is full of venom and pain.
The two actresses play off each other beautifully, with sapphic undertones that only add to the film’s lurid, sexually distressing subject matter. Dot is sexually curious, hormonal, and frustrated, while Nina’s trauma has twisted her desires into something dark, hate-filled, and weaponized. These are heavy, tragic themes, and both Belle and Cuthbert are game actresses who perform them with quiet, disturbing realism.
In the post-Scream era, The Quiet continues the 90s tradition of taking tropes from formerly adult-oriented plots (in this case, erotic thrillers like Diabolique, China Moon, or Bad Influence) and casting them with sexy, younger actors and actresses. 1998’s Disturbing Behavior was a teen take on The Stepford Wives. The Craft a teen take on The Witches of Eastwick. Cruel Intentions a teen take on Dangerous Liaisons, and so forth.
The Quiet rarely goes anywhere you don’t expect, but it’s twisted, perverse, dark, and so well-performed (particularly by its two leads), that despite its box office failure and critical drubbing at the time of its release, deserves a reevaluation and earns a right to sit alongside other grim, urban-gothic thrillers.
HOME VIDEO
As of this writing, The Quiet has never made it past DVD as far as home video releases are concerned and has been Out-of-Print for some time now, with resellers asking a pretty penny in some instances for used copies. Obviously, that’s not to say Sony Home Entertainment won’t kick it out on Blu-Ray or 4K UHD at some point, but for now, The Quiet runs that tragic risk of slipping through the digital cracks into obscurity. Love it or hate it, no film deserves that fate.
The DVD released in early 2007 (over a year after its theatrical release, if that tells you anything), did come with a small array of extras, but should a boutique distributor like Shout! Factory, Arrow Video, or Vinegar Syndrome get a hold of its license, retrospective interviews with Belle and Cuthbert, a commentary, and maybe a visual essay on suburban gothic films would be cool additions.
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- Audio: Dolby Digital English Surround 5.1, Dolby Digital French Surround 2.0, Dolby Digital Spanish Surround 5.1
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean
- Start-Up Trailers: The Italian (1:41), Curse of the Golden Flower (0:47), Quinceañera (1:57)
- Fetal Pig, Fetal Pig, Let Me In
- Locations: Shooting in Austin
- Sans Celluloid: The Quiet and Digital Cinema
- Script Development
- The Cast
- Previews
- The Italian
- Curse of the Golden Flower
- Volver
- Driving Lessons
- American Hardcore
- House of Sand
- Art School Confidential
- Quinceañera
- Dreamland
- Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
Bits ‘N’ Pieces
Traum-A-Meter:
2 out of 4
This isn’t a gory flick, but its themes involving rape, incest, patricide and assault are absolutely triggering, so proceed with caution.
Today’s Jam: “Shake it Off” by Mariah Carey, featuring Jermaine Dupri was the hit on the charts the weekend The Quiet slid in (and quickly out) of theaters – its title not advisable should a family secret this traumatic ever come to light.