I chose this movie because it was on a list of monkey horror movies and since March Mondays are all about monkey monster movies, I chose it. This movie is sooooo not about a monkey. There is a monkey, mind you, but it’s really incidental. Now, what this movie is about is sanity and more specifically how our families can drive us insane.
Insanity is always contextual. Whether it’s from influenza in the womb or stresses of modern life triggering our responses or tragic news causing brain chemicals to affect behavioral outcomes or sleep deprivation leading to hallucinations or genetics break dancing on our hippocampus. It’s always contextual. When I was studying psychology as a minor (which obviously makes me an expert, right?), I learned that in order to make any significant change in one’s personality, that person had to undergo what was then termed an S.E.E. (Significant Emotional Event). It turns out The Attic is a good representation of how that works.
Insanity is always contextual. Whether it’s from influenza in the womb or stresses of modern life triggering our responses or tragic news causing brain chemicals to affect behavioral outcomes or sleep deprivation leading to hallucinations or genetics break dancing on our hippocampus. It’s always contextual. When I was studying psychology as a minor (which obviously makes me an expert, right?), I learned that in order to make any significant change in one’s personality, that person had to undergo what was then termed an S.E.E. (Significant Emotional Event). It turns out The Attic is a good representation of how that works.
In the graphic novel The Killing Joke, the Joker tells Batman, “There’s no difference between me and everyone else! All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That’s how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day.” In The Attic, we get to witness that day in the life of our protagonist Louise. The problem for me…she’s pretty much Shake n’ Bake crazy from the get go. Allow me to explain.
This isn’t a horror movie as much as a depiction of a woman tittering oh so close to the edge of losing her sanity finally punching that ticket to ride the crazy train. Here’s her story. Louise was engaged to be married 19 years before our movie begins to a handsome blonde guy named Robert who mysteriously vanished on the wedding day. That’s context enough and S.E.E. enough to bring her to the delicate state we find her in at the beginning of the film. Add onto that the fact that she is obligated to live at home with an invalid, wheelchair-bound father who is marvelously realized by Ray Milland (that’s right, Mr. Dial M for Murder himself). There’s not a single sentence that comes out of Daddy’s mouth that doesn’t make us cringe. Since she loses her job as a librarian, he controls her financially as well as mentally.
Louise has a friend and co-worker named Emily, who is also a sad cat living with a domineering mother. Louise sees way too much of her situation in young Emily and really wants to help her. In return and I supposed as a show of appreciation, Emily buys Louise a pet monkey…as we all do in these situations, right? We know this is a good thing because the director gave us a long panning shot of plenty of stuffed monkeys in Louise’s room in the opening credits. I need to interject here that before this happens, Louise has a one-night stand with a cute blonde sailor she meets at a movie (are you seeing the pattern, boys and girls?). They end up at a hotel and she decides while they’re making love to call him Robert. That’s right Robert, the missing boyfriend’s name. Creepy, a little sad, but okay…whatever. I had no problem until one day she dresses the monkey as a sailor. All the Freudian bells and whistles began going off like gangbusters.
When Daddy finds out about the sailor episode in a not too subtle way, he ominously says, “Not again.” Cue foreshadowing music. It’s also about this time that Daddy, who has been complaining nonstop about “Dickey” the monkey, starts treating him very well, suspiciously well, like here-have-a-banana-so-you-will-trust-me-and-I-can-get-rid-of-you well.
She takes refuge in helping her friend Emily escape her mother’s clutches by giving her severance check and a ticket to California where Emily’s fiancé is waiting. My thought was if Emily can afford to buy her friend a monkey, she can afford to buy her own ticket to California. They spend a nice day at the park (really odd music choice as they are riding around on bikes-song lyrics: “Come touch me, and kiss me, and love me again.” Very lesbianic in nature which is confusing since I thought at this point she had a thing for blondes and monkeys. Then again, now that I think about it, Emily was also a dirty blonde. Hmmm… There’s a lot going on with the music choices in this film, but that’s a whole other blog.
She takes refuge in helping her friend Emily escape her mother’s clutches by giving her severance check and a ticket to California where Emily’s fiancé is waiting. My thought was if Emily can afford to buy her friend a monkey, she can afford to buy her own ticket to California. They spend a nice day at the park (really odd music choice as they are riding around on bikes-song lyrics: “Come touch me, and kiss me, and love me again.” Very lesbianic in nature which is confusing since I thought at this point she had a thing for blondes and monkeys. Then again, now that I think about it, Emily was also a dirty blonde. Hmmm… There’s a lot going on with the music choices in this film, but that’s a whole other blog.
So her really bad day begins when she comes home and can’t find Dickey. This sends her over the edge a little further and she curls up on her bed with a stuffed monkey crying. The next day she sees a handsome blonde kid out mowing the back yard. So of course she assumes that it’s Robert after missing for 19 years and goes and puts the moves on him. Daddy calls her back in and she’s abashed.
Her father insists to be taken to the park. Once at the park he insists to be taken up on a high hill to see the view. After that he insists to go closer to the edge (you see it coming, don’t you?) His electric wheelchair tumbles over and in that moment he picks himself up and dusts his pants off. Louise, to say the least, loses her m*therf*cking mind. She realizes that she has been tied to taking care of this man and the whole time, he was not an invalid. So she does what we’d all do in this situation, she pushes him off the mountain and he hits his head and dies.
Her father insists to be taken to the park. Once at the park he insists to be taken up on a high hill to see the view. After that he insists to go closer to the edge (you see it coming, don’t you?) His electric wheelchair tumbles over and in that moment he picks himself up and dusts his pants off. Louise, to say the least, loses her m*therf*cking mind. She realizes that she has been tied to taking care of this man and the whole time, he was not an invalid. So she does what we’d all do in this situation, she pushes him off the mountain and he hits his head and dies.
She makes her way back home and begins searching for all the money Daddy says he’s had hidden from her all these years. She finds some, but then she finds a key. Hmmm…one can only wonder what that key opens, wait, unless…isn’t this movie called The Attic? Yes, sports fans, she makes her way up to the attic where she finds the body of her beloved dead Dickey in a trunk. But wait…There’s more. She also comes across some old photographs of her and Robert on their wedding day…well before the wedding day, he’s in his white tuxedo. SPOILER ALERT! Don’t scroll down if you don’t want to know!
In a very “Rose for Emily” ending…she also discovers the white tuxedoed kind of mummified body of Robert. She is Miss Havisham from Great Expectations forever trapped in that tragic prenuptial moment. And credits roll to another really poor song choice and we can only assume that Louise will take the Joker’s advice and “Trade her gloom for a rubber room.” In Louise’s case, we see how once again, thank you Joker, “Madness is the emergency exit.”
It’s really difficult to relate to a weak protagonist, specifically one that’s already a little cray cray. But Louise is played by Carrie Snodgrass. Oscar nominee for best actress in 1970 for Diary of a Mad Housewife (she won the golden globe that year). Her own personal life was a little on the cray cray side. She did have a son by Neil Young after all. So the performance, while creepy, is geared to make us feel uncomfortable and Snodgrass pulls it of professionally.
It’s really difficult to relate to a weak protagonist, specifically one that’s already a little cray cray. But Louise is played by Carrie Snodgrass. Oscar nominee for best actress in 1970 for Diary of a Mad Housewife (she won the golden globe that year). Her own personal life was a little on the cray cray side. She did have a son by Neil Young after all. So the performance, while creepy, is geared to make us feel uncomfortable and Snodgrass pulls it of professionally.
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