Hear Me Out: Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Presence’ is a classic modern ghost movie
Although not everyone felt that Steven Soderbergh achieved what he set out to do with Presence when it hit cinemas early this year, a closer look at the film with a bit of hindsight, in the hush of a late night at home alone, on as big a screen as you can muster, reveals a different, incredibly effective experience.
Seeing the movie in ultra high definition 4K adds an immersive quality to the experimental slow burner that opens with a long-shot from a ghost’s perspective; trapped in an empty house, moving silently from room to room, awaiting the arrival of the new family who are about to move in.
Presence has a real insight about it – not only does it reflect the inner turmoil experienced by so many families behind closed doors, parents drinking every night, teenage children at each other’s throats, but also the pressure to make money to keep up appearances and the difficulties faced with raising older children in today’s society.
And while it isn’t a jump-scare flick particularly, although there are undoubtedly a couple, the reason it is so effective is that it is deeply unsettling. It is more the prospect of what might be about to happen that results in you wanting to look away from the screen in fear.
There’s a genuine beauty to the film, too. Soderbergh uses the setting of an enormous New Jersey suburban house as another character – you find yourself looking over the actors’ shoulders, waiting for movement in the shadows, perhaps a face reflected in a mirror or a glimpse at the ghost who is so desperate to be paid attention to throughout.
The story that slowly unfurls proves itself to be an incredibly dark one, and when the twists come at the end, they are brilliantly powerful – more so because they explain minor moments that you’d previously tried to make sense of and show the thought put into the very careful placing of events during the narrative. Without wishing to give too much away, having watched the entire film from a ghost’s perspective, you are suddenly, shatteringly, understanding of its motives and feelings.
Presence doesn’t outstay its welcome at just 85 minutes long, it is the right length for a voyeuristic visit to another family’s house and tangled existence, you leave the film either grateful to not be in a similar situation, or feeling judgmental at the character flaws of the matriarch played so well by Lucy Liu, or maybe a little reflective about what goes on in the minds of your own siblings or parents.
It is certainly a film that has divided opinion, and it’s easy to see why that may be. It is not a movie that’s packed with incidents or with gore. It is a very different thing to sit and watch due to Soderbergh’s camera work, which saw him glide around in just socks in order to keep sound to a bare minimum, and the POV that adds an almost surveillance camera feel to proceedings.
It was filmed on a low budget, quickly, and that is evident in watching it. But that makes it all the more relatable, too. It wouldn’t work as well as it does with large amounts of CGI or even with more famous actors than are involved.
Give it a try on a quiet night, without interruption and see what you think. Hopefully, if you’re a fan of movies that stay with you and that prompt you to feel quite deeply, you will come away glad you did.
