I have seen all of the film adaptations of the book Turn of the Screw by Henry James, and this one is by far the best visually as well as psychologically. The addition of the sexual abuse of the governess herself at the hands of her own father pulls the plot together nicely by explaining her confusion and angst and fight, if not severe enough in the end, to protect the children in her charge and to take authority over the unclean pedophile spirits that infest the mansion. Bottom line? She is struggling with pedophilia herself, and this is made evident by her interactions with the prepubescent boy in her charge--her eye contact, her physical proximity, her lack of discretion at night when she is dressed only in her chemise and he is nude. He is not a small boy, but near his teenage years--and she is only in her early twenties. The housekeeper in this version pretends to be against the pedophilia that has been occurring at the house, but she makes it obvious that she has really enjoyed the whole thing, even if, as she says, it was fear that kept her from stopping it. Caveat: this film has full frontal nudity in one scene where we are invited to explore the voluptuous body of the governess while viewing her cigar burns and jagged scars made, we assume, by whips, knives, and other damaging instruments. Starring Harvey Keitel as the uncle and Lauren Bacall as the housekeeper.
Review of Presence of Mind
