Fever Dream

This is NOT a psychological thriller. This is NOT a scary story. This is nothing more than a story about how pesticides harm the children and at least one adult in a small, rural community. If that's what you want to see, watch it. If not, skip it.

Been rather lax on the film front of late but today starts us back - with a haunting enigmatic Arginetian/Chilean drama. Valverde plays Amanda who arrives at a remote farmhouse with her daughter Nina while awaiting for husband to join them. She meets Carola (Fonzi) who warns Amanda to stay away from her son David - as he is her son but at the same time isn't. In a flashback sequence Carola reveals her husband bred horses and mortgages the house to hire a stallion - one day the horse dissapears and she and David search for and find him down by a river. The next day both the horse and David fall ill - the nearest Doctor is miles away but Carola knows of a local healer who offers to heal him but she will need to split his soul in half to destroy the poison -he lives but is much changed and Carola seems to be afraid of him now. Then things get very strange.... It has an really interesting structure in that as events unfold Amanda and David have this inner monologue but it becomes apparant that its taking place at the end of the film with David encouraging Amanda to reveal more details of how things ended as they do. Its open to all manner of interpretation with both female leads very good in both parts and a eerie score by Natalie Holt adds to the whole unsettling feel. Ignore the low ratings on IMDB and let the film slowly coil itself into your mind - quite remarkable - 4/5.

Amanda (María Valverde) travels to a get away house (filmed in Chile) with her daughter Nina (Guillermina Sorribes Liotta). The house is shared with Carola (Dolores Fonzi) and her son David (Emilio Vodanovich). Amanda talks to David in her head as Carola tells Amanda the strange story of how David got ill from the water and the only way he can survive is the old woman in the Greenhouse. She can save him, but only by spitting his soul with someone else so both bodies can handle the poison. But David would not be the same. It was an interesting tale as things come full circle. I think an American Louisiana version would be good. Guide: No swearing. Brief sex. Brief nudity (María Valverde)

Okay.... so I get the pesticide poisoning the water bit. Dies the Greenhiuse signify something? The split souls? Why is Carolla's husband so short with what's her name's husband? Carolla wanted the daughter for herself but she didn't poison them, did she? Why didn't she just warn them in the beginning? I'm so confused....

You can tell the negative reviewers were expecting a "horror movie" with "scares." Fever Dream is not a spooky ghost movie. It's a psychological drama with an element of magical realism. The story is very coherent and very clearly explained; it would only be confusing to someone who thinks "supernatural" elements must fit into a well established trope, like a curse or a haunting. The original novella had a more surreal, more disturbing sense of desperation, confusion and sadness that would be difficult to translate to film, and they didn't fully do it justice, but it's still competently made. Bottom line is that the book was better but the bad reviews are still mostly just clueless.