The Awakening

 The Awakening 2011

• Director: Nick Murphy
• Seen by this director: Primeval (2 episodes)
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, Isaac Hemstead Wright, Shaun Dooley, Joseph Mawle
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Rebecca Hall – BFG, Transcendence, Frost/Nixon, Starter for 10
• Dominic West – Tomb Raider, Testament of Youth, Johnny English Reborn, From Time to Time, The Wire, Mona Lisa’s Smile, Chicago, 28 Days, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard III
• Imelda Staunton – Pride, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Another Year, Cranford, Taking Woodstock, Freedom Writers, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Re-Told, Vera Drake, Bright Young Things, Shakespeare in Love, Twelfth Night, Sense and Sensibility, Much Ado about Nothing
• Shaun Dooley – Doctor Who, Broadchurch, Misfits, The Woman in Black, South Riding, Hustle, Shackleton
• Joseph Mawle – Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Bird Song, Made in Dagenham, Merlin
• Why? I don’t really know.
• Seen: 9 October 2021.      

       A hundred years ago Florence Cathcart (Hall) is a no-nonsense, scientific non-believer of ghosts who works to discloses fraud, misconception and superstition.

       Robert Mallory (West) appears on her doorstep to ask her to explain the ghost in the boarding school where he teaches, a ghost who is believed to have caused the death of a pupil three weeks previously.

       She takes the job and is aided by Maud (Staunton), the school’s devoted housekeeper and a staunch supporter of Florence’s book.

       Ghosts or no ghosts, it’s suspenseful. It’s a seriously and intelligently made film, a sad film about damaged people.

 4 * of 5