THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL – The Blu Review

Italian Writer/Director Francesca Gregorin’s THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL is an intimate psychodrama with a small cast, a Twilight Zonish twist, and a whole lot of  weirdness. Kaya Scodelario plays Emanuel, a teen whose mother died in childbirth and she, as her first-person voiceover narration reveals, blames herself for the death. She’s now a teen and has spent her life traumatized by the event. Raised by her doting dad Dennis (Alfred Molina), Emanuel is dramatic and remote, but she emerges from her shadow occasionally to annoy her bewildered new stepmom Janice (Frances O’Connor), who sees Emanuel for who she is and is growing tired of Dennis creating excuses for her. The story focuses on the lead-up to Emanuel’s 18th birthday. She dates a guy named Claude (Aneurin Barnard) for a while, but takes an immediate interest in Linda (Jessica Biel) who moves in next door with her newborn infant and looks just like her late mother. Emanuel offers babysitting services and soon discovers the baby is just a creepy doll—and that Linda seems blissfully unaware of that fact, behaving at all times as if it’s a normal, healthy child. She decides to play along, if only so that through them, she can keep vicariously experiencing the maternal bond she’s missed out on.

There is very little that is overtly horrific about THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL, but make no mistake: this is a horror film. The horror is primarily conceptual, and the more we see of Emanuel’s life, the more we squirm. More allegory than drama, is about how two women deal with loss and grief. THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL, the second effort from  Gregorini, is a good film, nicely acted and well-directed. Kaya Scodelario is an actress to keep an eye on and Jessica Beil is surprisingly good in this relatively mature role. Unfortunately, once the premise is established, the film runs out of steam. It’s unsure of what to do with its basic propositions and is dragged across the finish line by an unsatisfying conclusion that’s more Night Gallery than Zone.

THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL comes out on Blu-ray from Well Go USA Entertainment on March 25^th. 

THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL’s AVC MPEG-4 image is technically proficient with a 1080p High Definition presentation which preserves the 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio. This presentation of the film offers good depth and clarity, but the cinematography is uninvolving and colors seem somewhat solemn and don’t impress.

The film’s lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is just fine but far from overtly impressive. Dialogue is certainly very cleanly presented (for better or worse), and there’s some attention to immersive detail offered throughout this mix.

The THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL Blu comes with a handful of extras:

Director Interview – runs 4 minutes. Francesca Gregorini speaks passionately about her film. She clearly has a lot of insight and I wish they would have given her a complete commentary.

Deleted scenes

Outtakes

Trailers

As a horror/art hybrid, THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL is just off-the-wall enough to recommend. It’s not for everyone but I found it engaging and I appreciated it a great deal.