"Plumbing the Depths of What
Lies Beneath"
by Auriette Lindsey
Brilliant geneticist Dr. Norman Spencer's got problems.
He's lived
his whole life in the shadow of his scientist father, and just as he's
about to make the breakthrough discovery that would prove himself..
his wife starts seeing things.
But "What Lies Beneath" really isn't about Norman, even though the
part's played by superstar Harrison Ford. It's really about Claire Spencer,
Norman's wife, trying to deal with and make sense of the strange things
that are happening in her house.
Michelle Pfeiffer is terrific as Claire, struggling to preserve her sanity and
her life. Everyone wants to blame her "seeing things" on her fragile
mental state. Two years ago, her famous father-in-law died, last year
she was in a terrible car accident (that conveniently leaves her memory
fuzzy about that time period), and her daughter just left for college.
And there's more beneath the surface in this Hitchcockian thriller.
The couple next door fight constantly -- and Claire fears the wife is
murdered. Claire resents -- or at least Norman thinks she does --
giving up her musical career to be a housewife. There's plenty of
obsession, too -- with a lover, with work, with finding the truth.
Director Robert Zemeckis makes it no secret that he wanted to make
the film Alfred Hitchcock might make, if he were alive today. I think Bob
did pretty well. It's not gruesome and it's got some great comic relief
moments with Claire's friend Jody (Diana Scarwid). The tension builds
continually, with plenty of plot twists and turns to keep us
guessing -- and jumping out of our seats -- until the final fadeout.