I first encountered this film because–can’t make this stuff up–someone on tumblr posted a fancasting of Femlock (Sherlock Holmes as a woman) with Rebecca Hall as Sherlock and Carey Mulligan as Jane Watson. The image of Hall was from The Awakening (2011), and I was not disappointed.
The year is 1921. Florence Cathcart (Hall) is a skeptic “ghost hunter” and author who crashes spiritualist gatherings to expose the charlatans robbing grieving Londoners of their money. Robert Mallory (Dominic West), a teacher from a private boarding school, contacts her regarding a haunting at his school — not to find out who the ghostly little boy in the class photos is, but to investigate the recent death of a pupil who claimed to have seen the ghost shortly before his death.
“You, being all, uh, mysterious with your… cheekbones, and turning your coat collar up so you look cool.” Source
[Image of Florence Cathcart, being mysterious with her cheekbones, and Mallory, in front of the school.]
Why should you watch this? Florence Cathhart is a badass science detective who doesn’t take shit from anyone. Her scientific equipment for monitoring ghosts–rather, humans pretending to be ghosts, or other natural conditions–is stellar. She defies most of the “strong female character” tropes: she doesn’t dislike, fear, or obsess about having children. Although she meets with some opposition from the law and from private citizens for being a lady detective, it doesn’t feel forced or cartoonish, and she deals with it swiftly. She’s allowed to express fear, desire, and uncertainty without it being pinned on her gender. Her motivation and complicated skepticism are also a nice change–when ghosts are suggested to be real, she scoffs, but no one is trying to disprove her because she’s a woman.
![SCIENCE. [Image: Mallory and Cathcart develop photos.] Source.](https://odorunara.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/the-awakening05.jpg?w=500)
SCIENCE. [Image: Mallory assists Cathcart as she develops photos.] Source.
As for the horror element, The Awakening is a genuinely scary film that utilizes the motion of the camera to focus on the characters’ faces and obscure the background or their field of vision, thus heightening the dramatic tension. As a fan of vintage scientific methods, sexually liberated lady detectives, and suspense, I was not disappointed.
Contains ghosts, suspense, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide, self harm, a near sexual assault, intimate-partner violence (not on main character), domestic violence involving children, non-sexual nudity, consensual sex, a whole lot of people with PTSD, that kid from GoT.
Regrettably, there no overtly queer characters and everyone is white.
Currently available on Netflix streaming, Amazon video, Vudu, Google play, etc.
The Lobster Dance 
We don’t know each other, but based on your previous blog posts, I highly recommend you watch last year’s “The Falling”, a drama/psychological horror?thriller? (it’s pretty mild horror though, no gore or violence) starring Maisie Williams, about an English girls school in the late ’60s where something weird starts happening to the students. Watch it without reading up on it, trust me! I am 100% sure you’re gonna love it, or at least some aspects of it
Anyway, love your writing 🙂
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Wow, thank you for the recommendation! I will check it out 🙂
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[…] Reader Ali suggest the 2015 film The Falling in a comment, so I checked it out! […]
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[…] stories are a bit tricky: on one hand, I’m like, “Florence Cathcart here; ghosts aren’t real but science is,” and on the other, I’m like, “wow gosh it sure was nice enjoying sleeping, which I will […]
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[…] different than how unreliable narratorship plays out in film.For example, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and The Awakening both use a combination of visual and narrative devices to highlight the point of view character is […]
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