The Gift (2000)

A woman with extrasensory perception is asked to help find a young woman who has disappeared.

Director:

Sam Raimi

Writers:

Billy Bob Thornton, Tom Epperson

Stars:

Cate Blanchett, Katie Holmes, Keanu Reeves

8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cate Blanchett	...	Annabelle 'Annie' Wilson
Giovanni Ribisi	...	Buddy Cole
Keanu Reeves	...	Donnie Barksdale
Katie Holmes	...	Jessica King
Greg Kinnear	...	Wayne Collins
Hilary Swank	...	Valerie Barksdale
Michael Jeter	...	Gerald Weems
Kim Dickens	...	Linda
Gary Cole	...	David Duncan
Rosemary Harris	...	Annie's Granny
J.K. Simmons	...	Sheriff Pearl Johnson
Chelcie Ross	...	Kenneth King
John Beasley	...	Albert Hawkins
Lynnsee Provence	...	Mike Wilson
Hunter McGilvray	...	Miller Wilson

Storyline

When Jessica King goes missing, all eyes turn to Annabelle Wilson. Not as a murder suspect, but as a clairvoyant. Many of the towns folk go to Annabelle for help, and Jessica's fiancée, Wayne Collins, turns to Annabelle for possible guidance. Annabelle feels that she can't help, but this doesn't stop her from constantly getting visions of Jessica's fate.

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Plot Keywords:

woman | pond | abusive husband | clairvoyant | widow | 

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Taglines:

The only witness to the crime was not even there

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language, and sexuality/nudity

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 January 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dar

Filming Locations:

Effingham County, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,827, 25 December 2000, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$12,008,642

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$44,567,606

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lakeshore Entertainment,Alphaville Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The cards Annie Wilson uses to perform her "readings" are actually Zener Cards, which are used to perform ESP tests. The cards are not known for their fortune-telling abilities, but this is not necessarily a mistake. Fortune tellers can use a variety of cards from tarot decks to ordinary poker cards to give readings. All that truly matters is that the four elements of nature (fire, water, earth, and air) are represented in some form. Annie would still be able to deliver readings with them as long as she knew which symbols represented which element.

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Goofs

When Annie's friend stops her outside church to inform her of Jessica's disappearance, Annie pauses to put her sweater on. In the next shot, she has the sweater in her hand, and when she gets into her car in the shot after that, she is wearing it again.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Annie: Oh, thank you for the peaches.
Tommy Lee Ballard: Yes, ma'am.
Annie: So how you been?
Tommy Lee Ballard: Oh, pretty good, I reckon.
Annie: You had a health problem since I saw you last?
Tommy Lee Ballard: Ma'am?
Annie: Have you been sick.
Tommy Lee Ballard: Back's been hurting a little.
Annie: No, no, it's not your back. You been bleeding somewhere?

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Connections

Features The Heckle and Jeckle Show (1956)

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Soundtracks

King Of Heartache
By Lucky Lawrence
Performed by The Souvenirs
Courtesy of WILL Records

User Reviews

The Gift is honest and true in the most amazing ways. The ensemble cast is superb in bringing the story to the screen.

I can say from my experience as a psychic that Billy Bob Thornton makes the psychic's life believably real – and Sam Raimi's directing along with Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Annie Wilson come together to seal the deal. Blanchett brings to Wilson's character understated grace and humility. When put in the position of having to use her gift to bring the murder of a local young woman (Katie Holmes) to the authorities' attention she reveals the burden of The Gift. It's a double entendre and cautionary tale wrapped in a two word title.

Hilary Swank's portrayal of Valerie Barksdale, a battered wife who seeks Wilson's aid is familiar to anyone who has witnessed spousal abuse. She captures that inexplicable dichotomy of the abused's recognition of her dire situation: she loves him, fears him, yet fears being alone even more. What Keanu Reeves (Donnie Barksdale) brings to the role a quality that some have said he doesn't achieve as an actor: realism. I have known a man like this and have no reason to ever know one again. There is nothing for me to learn on that road, yet I know others who have yet to learn that soul-sucking lesson. Reeves' evocation of anger, disdain, bullying and taunting all mistaken for indisputable power is true to the abuser's persona. What he tapped into when bringing this character to life is neither affectation nor caricature. The role reveals an unparalleled collaboration between him, Sam Raimi, and Billy Bob Thornton to be nakedly honest about cruelty. Reeves' interaction with Giovanni Ribisi in his role as Buddy Cole, another client of Wilson's who challenges Donnie Barksdale to shoot him, is particularly chilling. Anyone who has ever dealt with spousal abuse, regardless of what one thinks about psychic abilities, needs to see this movie.

The plot twists in predictable yet also surprising directions. What transpires will raise questions about reality as we know it, and how life isn't as certain as we might want to believe it is. Even psychic Annie Wilson learns from the ever-skeptical sheriff (J.K. Simmons) that what she thought was real was real – but in a different, inexplicable way. Isabeau Vollhardt, author, The Casebook of Elisha Grey