The Uninvited Guest (2004)

In the dark corridors of Félix's house, an intruder is hiding. Is he real, or is he a manifestation inside the obscure maze of his mind?

Director:

Guillem Morales

Writer:

Guillem Morales

Stars:

Andoni Gracia, Mónica López, Francesc Garrido

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Andoni Gracia	...	Félix
Mónica López	...	Claudia / Vera
Francesc Garrido	...	Bruno
Agustí Villaronga	...	Martín
Minnie Marx	...	Sra. Mueller
Pablo Derqui	...	Policía 1
Violeta Llueca	...	Policía 2
Xavier Capdet	...	Policía atestados
Pere Abelló	...	Antonio
Fina Rius	...	Alicia
Xènia Gausa	...	Chica
Gemma Lozano	...	Niña (as Gemma Lozano Bernabéu)
Daniel Casadellà	...	Niño (as Daniel Casadella Silva)
Ruben Ametllé	...	Diego
Abel Coll	...	Chico mudanza

Storyline

Recently separated from his wife Vera, Félix a young architect, embittered, he finds it difficult to trust again, and being fragile and emotionally unstable, he lives secluded in his now deafeningly silent and vacant house. Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, a stranger knocks on Félix's door desperately in need of a phone call, and without giving it much thought, hesitantly, he lets him in, however, after a while, when the man is nowhere to be found, paranoia will strike. Has he left or is he still somewhere inside the house hiding? In the following days, as unexplained sounds and strange noises banish the mansion's silence amplifying the tension and the uneasiness, Félix will question his very reason as he will gradually begin hearing and seeing things in the dimly lit corridors. Is the intruder indeed real, or is he a manifestation inside the obscure maze of Félix's mind?

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Plot Keywords:

intruder | neighbor | masturbation | animal death | male nudity | 

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Taglines:

There's something more... and it is looking at you.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some sexual content and violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Spain]

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish German

Release Date:

21 October 2005 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Uninvited Guest

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+ España, Rodar y Rodar Cine y Televisión, Televisió de Catalunya (TV3)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

It's All Right with Me
Written by Cole Porter
Performed by Ella Fitzgerald

User Reviews

a dwarf's vertigo

I like to imagine that money came in for this before the filmmaker had the chance to iron out the creases in the script and he just went ahead while the project was still hot and he could get it made.

It is half-way an interesting film, a more novel take on Hitchcock than we have seen from DePalma in ages; the prowling eye of the camera; the vertigo of assumed identities and deceived points-of-view; the projections in space of an obsessive mind. But a deeply flawed film that left me with a growing sense of dissatisfaction.

Our point-of-view is decidedly with a man who comes to think that someone else is hiding in his own house. The house itself is a spacious labyrinth of modern architecture so it's impossible to make sure; dark corners abound and the mind comes to cast in them its own shadows of doubt. The paranoid situation he's embroiled in becomes worse when he suspects that his ex is involved in some mysterious bargain where he is the victim.

The story has been set in motion long before though. There is a woman who has suffered a crippling accident and whose husband has grown distant from her, we get to find out about this later in the film when he does.

In the first house, physical space is what the mind fills in with its own chimeras. In the second house, it's what the mind fills with emotional pain, with distance as the space between hearts and affections.

It's in this second house that the man seeks refuge - where he comes to fill the space left blank by the missing husband - now by going into hiding himself, and so looking at his situation from the inverse point-of-view. Now we are what we were trying to apprehend in the first half, looking to evade capture from anxious eyes. So if the first house was the setting for a thriller, what was perceived from our end as holding elusive danger, here it's us causing the thriller to happen while from our pov it is recast as this exhilarating game of hide-and-seek. It makes sense to watch this as a dance or performance art; where one partner swings out of view just seconds before the other enters it, with both locked together in a ballet of appearances.

The man obsessively imagines himself as part of a relationship, and the film assumes a whimsical, light-hearted tone. This strangely underscores the fundamental creepiness of what is really going on.

There are two problems in all this. One is that it never makes any sense why our man behaves the way he does. Usually what Hitchcock did was that he would supply the doubt of an unreliable eye or unstable mind; here the guy seems perfectly normal and then acts completely unhinged.

The other is the ending, where the filmmaker stretches to explain for us the missing links of the story. We knew that the two houses were somehow linked, but it turns out that they were quite literally so. So instead of using mirrored space - and persons, there's two of everyone here and one woman seems to be the other's twin sister - as the means of examining abstract reflections, we're give pieces of a puzzle to put together. In doing so, whole swathes of the story collapse and what held elusive power by remaining just out of sight is made to be safely ordinary or, worst, downright stupid.