For many families, moving away from the big city for a quiet life in the
suburbs may be a dream come true, but for Catherine Claire in Things Heard and Seen,
country life becomes nothing short of a nightmare.
The film, which adapts Elizabeth Brundage's novel All Things Cease to Appear, follows
restoration artist Catherine and her husband George as they move to upstate New York.
Soon, their family devolves from an ambitious young couple with a kid into a truly haunted
trio who must deal with dark and dangerous secrets about their new home and themselves.
In addition to painting a grim portrait of a family in crisis,
Things Heard and Seen also contains subtler points that take a very keen eye to catch. Here's a look
at some of the smaller details you might not have initially noticed in the film. Spoilers ahead!
Before we even meet Catherine and George, we get an ominous warning about the story to come.
The film opens on an old quote from the Swedish theologist Emanuel Swedenborg, which reads:
"This I can declare... things that are in heaven are more real than things that are in the world."
Alone, that passage might not immediately give audiences gooseflesh,
but once the film spells out the relevance of those words, it's a hair-raising sentence indeed.
Throughout the film, Swedenborg's legacy becomes a crucial part of Things Heard and Seen,
primarily because George's new boss, Floyd DeBeers is quite a fan of Swedenborg's work. In fact,
the reason that Floyd hired George in the first place is that Floyd liked the section
of George's dissertation discussing Swedenborg's influence on landscape artist George Inness.
Inness was such a believer in Swedenborg's teachings that one of Inness' pieces,
"Valley of the Shadow of Death," was directly inspired by the philosopher.
In turn, the painting is used on the cover of a modern printing of Swedenborg's book Heaven and
the World of Spirits and Hell From Things Heard and Seen. That book makes the rounds in the movie,
but the citation of Swedenborg's passage is more than just a wink to the text's prominent presence
in the film. As Floyd and George discuss, Swedenborg believed that every living being
has a spiritual counterpart that is as real and impactful as its physical presence.
"Don't be surprised if you start seeing things his way."
The cover of Swedenborg's book also proves to be quite prescient about how the Claires' story
will end. First, the painting comes back to literally haunt George
after he murders Floyd for threatening to expose George's false credentials during
a slideshow that only features Innes' artwork, which the two often discussed. On top of that,
"Valley of the Shadow of Death" also serves as a visual preview of George's final moments.
After it becomes clear that George will likely face conviction for Catherine's death,
George decides to set sail, and ends up riding his way
right into the center of a massive storm. Just as the movie opens with a lush painting of the
landscape in which the movie begins, the last scene slowly morphs into a stormy still frame
that looks a lot like Inness' piece. The sea swells as a brilliantly bright cross
breaks through the stormy clouds -- only, for George, the cross is upside down.
Inness' painting isn't the only piece of art that helps shape the scenery of George's final moments.
During a class trip to New York City's National Gallery of Art,
one of George's students asks about the Thomas Cole painting, "Voyage of Life: Manhood."
"Oh, the third one is called 'Manhood.' It's when Cole believes we lose the confidence of youth. Uh,
go check out the sailor's hands. They're no longer on the tiller."
Art experts point out that this may mean that the sailor has abandoned
any effort to steer his own vessel and is now relying on faith to carry him through the storm.
George, however, continues trying to exert control over his tiller until the very
end of his voyage. As his sailboat struggles in the storm, George loses control of the steering
device several times but keeps reaching back for it. Unfortunately, that effort
proves fruitless. The waves eventually turn into fire and consume the boat with George aboard.
Another bit of clever visual imaging that comes into play during the film's final moments
happens when Justine wakes up from her coma, which was caused by George running her off
the road and forcing her car to crash. As Justine returns to consciousness,
she has a vision of Catherine and the ghost of another woman who fell victim
to violence in Catherine's house. The way the two spirits stand together directly
calls back to the curious inscription on the ring that Catherine found in her kitchen.
The ring belonged to the mother of orphaned boys Eddy and Cole,
and Catherine's discovery results in one of her earliest encounters with the specter that haunts
her home and also inspires her to research exactly what happened to the people who
lived there before. During this investigation, Catherine learns the grim fate of the boys'
mom and realizes that history has a strong chance of repeating within her own family.
While Catherine certainly has reasons to be afraid of the spirit haunting her home,
especially given how much it frightens her daughter Franny, one of Catherine's earliest
encounters with the ghost may actually hint that the presence is on her side.
When we first meet Catherine, it becomes very clear that she has an eating disorder.
And throughout the story, George uses Catherine's eating disorder to manipulate her,
and as an excuse to dismiss all of her concerns. So, when the ghost suddenly starts up Catherine's
electric toothbrush and makes it fall from the counter, smashing her glass scale,
it seems like more of a helpful warning than an attempt to scare the young mother.
Speaking of early warning signs, there's also a bit of foreshadowing in the scene in which George
first introduces himself to his eventual lover, Willis. George meets Willis while taking Franny
to the local library and notices that Willis is reading a book about the Italian painter
Caravaggio. In addition to being known for his stunning portraits and grisly scene paintings,
Caravaggio was also famous for something even more grim.
"You know he killed someone? Over a game of tennis."
"Who?"
"Caravaggio."
"Oh, well, I'm not surprised; people get away with all kinds of horrible things."
The fact that George gleefully references this nugget of history as a means of flirting with
a woman certainly speaks to his character -- and offers a hint about what he's capable of himself.
Things Heard and Seen's relationship with art history is certainly explored throughout the film,
but after you see the film's ending its opening scene becomes even more meaningful.
In the beginning of the movie, audiences are treated to a slideshow of several art pieces,
many of which are from the Hudson River School art movement.
The slideshow also features some pieces that preview the events and mood of the movie.
Most obviously, the showcase includes Thomas Cole's "Voyage of Life:
Manhood," which proves to be a specific and enduring component of the film.
Other art pieces contained in the slideshow are equally as prescient.
Frederic Edwin Church's "Aurora Borealis" also bears a resemblance to George's last ride,
while George Inness's "Approaching Storm" features an idyllic outdoor landscape that is
growing ominous due to an incoming weather system. Two other paintings by Cole, "Kaaterskill Falls
and "The Oxbow," have a similarly gloomy tone, with a dark sky that threatens to upend the
pastoral bliss of the Hudson Valley. It's a subtle detail that fits the tone of the movie perfectly.
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