What Lies Beneath (Movie Summary and Review)

(2000) 2h 10min

It's weird that I didn't see it when it first came out. I mean, it's got Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford in the lead roles. One does trust A-Listers such as these to pick good scripts, doesn't one? After all, Pfeiffer and Ford have each been outstanding in everything, from comedy and adventure to dramatic roles. Moreover I can't think of a single clunker starring either of them, can you? And yet, whenever the conversation turns toward ghost stories, I'm always surprised at how few people have seen What Lies Beneath. 

The story opens on the morning Claire (Pfeiffer) and Norman Spencer (Ford) drive daughter Caitlin to college. Even though she's only going within hours of their Vermont home, the two women are close and will miss each other terribly. It's implied that they've spent a lot of time together for the better part of twenty years. Claire nearly makes it out of the dorm without becoming tearful, and the new empty-nesters drive back to their stately dream house on a lake. Well now what? With cautious optimism, Claire begins to figure out life after soccer-mom-hood. She plays with the dog, she putters, she gardens. But soon Claire is distracted by strange goings-on next door, and has an unsettling encounter with the new neighbor. Not only that, but Claire starts hearing eerie voices, seeing ghostly visions, and experiencing a general weirdness. A picture falls off the wall, the front door keeps opening by itself.

What we don't know yet is that Claire has dealt with far worse grief than sending an only daughter to college, but still...she hasn't been coping well with the heavy stuff of life. Haven't we all been there. Those details of Claire's life story will unfold along with her ghost story, but what's clear is that Claire doesn't know whether the house is haunted or if she's losing her mind. That's where the main action begins.

So who are these people? At first we don't learn much about Claire herself, except for her newfound empty nest, and the doting way she always puts Norman first. Norman does in fact appear to be a model husband. He's been a good provider, he seems caring, if somewhat grumpy and preoccupied with his work. He runs a research project at the nearby university. Despite being well-respected in his field, Norman is perpetually chasing the greatness of the dead father whose name he bears. Norman's moping attitude is not helped at all by working in the university that also bears his father's name. For her part, Claire heaps praise upon Norman, constantly reassuring him about his own merit entirely aside from his famous father...there's even a borderline creepy love scene where he asks her to repeat those words. In bed. Gross. I'm sure lots of people appreciate a buff and shirtless Harrison Ford but I don't like this Norman at all. Yet I like that I don't like Norman, and it's just one of many things I like about this movie.

I like the pace throughout. In the first half, the movie takes its time but does not dawdle over too many "let's just have the blonde tiptoe through the house for five minutes and call it suspense" scenes. When you think about it, with one character acting alone for so much of the movie, it could so easily become a drag. We have all waited through those dramatically-lit, suspense-music-laden haunted-house-walk-through scenes only for nothing to happen, or like a cat screeches and everybody jumps. But this movie doesn't burden us with such tedium. Oh sure, the blonde certainly tiptoes through the house, but this time it's Michelle Pfeiffer so whether or not "something happens" she is compelling in every scene. I don't know about you, Miss Kitty, but I think she is such a star.

In the second half when the drama ramps up, the pace doesn't necessarily: that builds suspense! There's an intense bath tub scene near the climax that will be hard to forget, yet there's hardly any action in it. It's all Michelle Pfieffer's eyes, and also her toes. Wait for it.

Speaking of the bath tub, I love good use of water as a horror element. Give me a tub, an old well, a lake, the ocean, and the scare is probably going to deliver. Water is so volatile. Water can be calm and scary, or it can churn and hold you and be scary. It can also be completely innocent, and then the not-knowing is what's scary. Water plays a role here to great effect. The movie's conclusion hinges on a wild, stormy and very wet car ride.

I keep mentioning Michelle Pfeiffer specifically. That's because I think Claire really needed a proper movie star to embody her everything-ness. Claire is an awesome character, so it's amazing that we don't know much about her until there's a dinner scene where a lot is unpacked all at once.

The Dinner Scene

The occasion for this dinner is that Norman's university colleague is introducing his "new squeeze" to Norman and Claire. She turns out to be Elena, an old friend of Claire's she hasn't seen in twenty years. This dinner does more to fill in the Claire/Norman dynamic than the whole rest of the movie, and it's all about the other couple, Norman's colleague and his new girlfriend, Elena. She does two things. First she triggers Norman's deepest insecurity: what people think of him. Though the well-intentioned colleague practically preens Norman as he brags about Norman's fancy title, high position in the scientific community and his general brilliance, Elena waves it all off. Right away Elena pivots to, "So you got a job in your father's school?" She has dismissed him. And then she turns to make a big deal over Claire. So as someone who knew pre-Norman Claire, Elena is able to fill in some color. Claire had been a gifted concert musician destined for a brilliant career, so she turns everyone's attention towards Claire's sublime brilliance for once. Norman squirms, and so Claire rushes to plug the hole in his ego. When work friend asks "why did you stop playing?" Claire fawns over Norman and says she stopped because she met a "dashing, handsome, genius scientist." Aw, true love. But then we learn that Norman has never even heard Claire play! How could that be possible in all these years? The point seems minor, but it fills in the larger picture: Claire has changed her whole life around for Norman's needs, and as it happens, he is truly a gargantuan self-absorbed egomaniac. Now it's more than just a ghost story. As it turns out, Norman's baggage leads to more than just his bruised ego. Because of Norman, Claire's ghosts, real and spiritual, all come rushing home at once through to the harrowing conclusion.

A Modern Vermont Gothic Ghost Story

What Lies Beneath is a no-gore, really cool ghost story that starts out oblique until clues fall into place one by one. For the longest time, we have no idea what or who could possibly be haunting Claire, or if it's all in her head? Norman is no help and sends her to see a psychiatrist. Even the role played by science automatically builds in that there must be some logical explanation for all this, surely the lady is hysterical. The big reveal may not be what you expect, but it's the kind of plot where even if you guessed right, it's still unfolds in a thrilling, and rather beautiful way. I love when modern ghost stories are visually pretty, and this is a very pretty movie. The stately old house, the old-fashioned bath tub, Michelle Pfeiffer...everything is beautiful down to the nature of the haunting itself. It clocks in kind of long at more than two hours, so save What Lies Beneath for when you have enough time and energy to get cozy with a modern Gothic ghost story. 😱