Being different is most certainly an awkward experience. But being accused of falsehoods is another story.
In the 2018 movie, We Have Always Lived in the Castle (based on the book of the same name by Shirley Jackson), Mary Catherine “Merricat” Blackwood (Taissa Farminga) and her elder sister Constance (Alexandra Daddario) live in their isolated mansion at the edge of their small town in the late 1950’s. After being accused of killing their parents six years previous to the start of the story, Constance goes only as far as the garden. Their only companion is their wheelchair bound Uncle Julian (Crispin Glover), who is obsessed with the continual rewrites of his memoir. Only Merricat goes into town, knowing that it will not be a pleasant experience.
Things change when their cousin Charles (Sebastian Stan) comes for a visit. What starts out as a pleasant time together turns into an emotional rollercoaster. Family secrets that have been kept in the dark are brought to the light, threatening the tenuous existence within the household.
I don’t recall reading the book, so I cannot comment on the changes that were made to the screenplay. I really liked this movie. The acting is fantastic, specifically by Farminga and Daddario. Merricat is an unlikely heroine. Her mannerisms and the way she speaks is unconventional for a female character in her late teens. Behind her smile and easy going nature, Constance appears to be emotionally frail and easily set off. It has a noir-ish, Rebecca feeling that immediately sucked me in.
Do I recommend it? Yes.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is available for streaming on Netflix.
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