15.9.23
One of my favourite horror films from the last decade, Speak No Evil is an incredibly dark and chilling satire. With a simple yet contemporary premise, it just gets nastier and nastier with every moment as it doom descends into misery.
Focusing on two families coming together through a holiday meeting, the film clues us into increasingly menacing turns. The fear comes slowly, and then all at once, thanks to director Christian Tafdrup’s ability to up the tension through silences, still camera shots and actors displaying a smart balance between holding things together and losing their shit completely. Every moment glides from squirmy to downright sinister until the film reaches a distressing yet fearless climax
The power of Speak No Evil stems from the ordinariness of its setup and the smart performances of its talented cast. Morten Burian and Sidsel Siem Koch are highly believable as the central middle-class couple struggling to reconcile their growing discomfort with their newfound ‘friends’ against their ingrained social politeness. Witnessing them trying to rationalise the obvious red flags and ignoring gut feelings makes the skin crawl, whilst being very entertaining. Fedja van Huêt is superbly menacing as the Dutch father, and as his character’s transgressions become bolder, the couple finds themselves socially paralysed, in fear of saying something offensive.
Through the cast’s balanced interactions, Speak No Evil reflects the perils of parental politeness and going along with behaviour from others which you aren’t sure is deviant. We watch in horror as social niceties override primal intuition, inching the characters toward unfathomable jeopardy. While grounded in a relatable premise of two families uniting in a moment of happiness, the film morphs steadily into a nightmare that rattles the core. With its cunning commentary on social mores and willingness to plunge into the depths of depravity, Speak No Evil leaves a mark. Bold and ruthless filmmaking.