Presence is a film with a fun, gimmicky concept that manages to do so much more than just what is on the surface. Quick pitch of the movie is you follow a family that has recently moved into a house from the perspective of a ghost, or Presence, that inhabits the same home.
When I left the theatre, I turned to my partner and said “This movie will score great with critics but audiences are unlikely to like it.” And sure enough, as of my writing this, Presence scores 87% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes but 54% among audiences. Now I don’t know how you personally perceive these scores and account for them when considering a movie or not, but if you’re unsure, I implore you to read this completely spoiler-free review to help make up your mind.
Point 1: Steven Soderbergh My Beloved
I’ll wear my heart on my sleeve here: I love Steven Soderbergh’s work. He may not rank among people’s lists of best directors, but in my opinion, no director is as prolific in constantly innovating and experimenting in themes, genres and techniques than him, often yielding successes. I won’t list out his full filmography here, but just to give you an idea, his films range from Erin Brockovich to Traffic (for which he won the Oscar for Best Director), the Ocean’s film franchise, Contagion, Magic Mike, and many many more. The man has made more movies this century than there are years and he has many more hits than misses.
All that to say, my interest is always piqued when he is in the director’s chair. And his penchant for finding unique concepts and making them work on the big screen is on full display here. I cannot speak highly enough of how well the camera work really puts you in the shoes of The Presence.
The camera smoothly pans and sways and moves to emulate the floating supernatural aspect of the perspective. Soderbergh does so much with just the camera to convey the feelings of The Presence. At times, the camera moves quickly while at other times it is stationary. Sometimes, it moves uncomfortably close to people, challenging your usual perspective and what you feel in moments like these in conventional films.
The film is a series of vignettes. It’s not just a straight narrative where you get a full story, but rather you get the bits that are important to the ghost, even if the audience doesn’t know why they’re important. He lets the story flow through what the ghost doesn’t care about just as much as what it does care about.
The art of this film is making you think the movie is so simple and straightforward when there is clearly so much thought and preparation that has gone into everything. There are some scenes that last a very long time and it’s in one take because you are always in the perspective of the ghost witnessing the events. It’s easy to forget how much thought has to go into making this all work seamlessly in this format and the movie should really be commended for nailing it from start to finish.
Point 2: Second Viewing Required
Presence is one of my favourite kinds of movies: the movie where the ending recontextualizes everything that happened before. Although throughout the movie, you are never told anything about the Presence or why it does what it does, you are pulled into creating your own story. Whether that story is right or wrong is irrelevant because once the ending is revealed, every single choice the film made until then takes on a different meaning.
You will leave Presence listing every vignette you saw and realizing why you saw it and what it meant. This also means that this is the type of movie where if you watch it knowing the ending, you will have a completely new experience as the knowledge colours everything in a different light. I am already looking forward to this coming out on digital so I can watch it again. It doesn’t hurt that it only has a 90 minute runtime!
Point 3: Handled With Care
This isn’t really a horror movie. It’s more of a family drama that deals more with the struggles of the dynamics between family members who are in distress for different reasons. You are along for the ride to find out about every family member’s flaws and what is going wrong. And eventually it starts to veer into more difficult subject matters too, but it’s raw. You are just a ghost seeing things unfold. You are there to see how these people deal with things and what they do or in some instances don’t do – and everyone is far from perfect.
There are a couple of moments where it could have gone too far but I am happy to say these scenarios and topics are handled with lots of care and it never crosses any lines. A lot of that also has to do with the clear trust the actors have in each other. They feel like real people that you are intruding on, which is important for the concept of the movie. Never does it feel like anyone is acting. Arguments go how they would in a family, things are said in not the best ways at times, but it is reminiscent of how people communicate at home without the filter they may put on with other people. Without the vulnerability, Presence would feel hollow, but it’s also a delicate balance to hit and it does so every time.
Point 4: Everything Matters
No film is made for you to not pay attention to. That said, I’m sure you can think of plenty of movies that you’ve watched while checking your phone often and you didn’t feel like you missed out on much. To return to my quote from the introduction where I knew that this would score highly among critics but not among audiences, I think that’s the case because of two reasons. The first is the obvious one: most people will go in expecting a horror film when it’s very much not that, at least not in the traditional way. But the other reason is because of how subtle the movie is. Subtlety is an art that is seldom appreciated. It is easy to be lulled into feeling like there’s nothing to be gained from seeing this random scene between a mom and her son in the kitchen where she tells him how much she loves him and then it cuts away. What’s in a scene watching the parents having a mundane conversation about their kids?
But everything matters. If you check out, and admittedly it’s easy to feel like nothing is happening, you’re not gonna get the payoff. The more you absorb and take in as the story unfolds, the more you’ll get out of it. It really is one of those movies where you have to invest yourself in to get the return. In my opinion, the return is very much worth the investment.
A film based around a gimmicky concept only works if the story can stand on its own. But I also don’t like being spoon fed what’s happening. Steven Soderbergh trusts you to be able to understand everything by the end of the movie and if you trust him to deliver, I think you will leave this experience full of emotion and a sense of satisfaction.
I will admit that this film will not be for everyone, but I truly believe that if you just give yourself to the experience, you are more likely to come out of it feeling rewarded than not. Give it a chance because I truly think it will end up being one of the most unique film experiences of the year.
Just don’t go in expecting a horror movie! If that’s what you’re looking for, check out my review of what I think is the most underrated horror movie of last year: Oddity.
