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IMDbPro

Lady in the Water

  • 20062006
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
101K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,143
1,169
Bryce Dallas Howard in Lady in the Water (2006)
Trailer for Lady in the Water
Play trailer1:40
7 Videos
70 Photos
DramaFantasyMystery
Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story w... Read allApartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect hi... Read allApartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world.
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
101K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,143
1,169
    • M. Night Shyamalan
    • M. Night Shyamalan
  • Stars
    • Paul Giamatti
    • Bryce Dallas Howard
    • Jeffrey Wright
    • M. Night Shyamalan
    • M. Night Shyamalan
  • Stars
    • Paul Giamatti
    • Bryce Dallas Howard
    • Jeffrey Wright
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 1.1KUser reviews
    • 279Critic reviews
    • 36Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos7

    Lady in the Water
    Trailer 1:40
    Watch Lady in the Water
    Lady in the Water
    Trailer 0:31
    Watch Lady in the Water
    Lady in the Water
    Clip 0:49
    Watch Lady in the Water
    Lady in the Water
    Clip 0:57
    Watch Lady in the Water
    Lady in the Water
    Clip 0:58
    Watch Lady in the Water
    Lady in the Water
    Clip 0:50
    Watch Lady in the Water
    Movie Credits Quiz With the Cast of 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom'
    Video 2:18
    Watch Movie Credits Quiz With the Cast of 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom'

    Photos70

    Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard in Lady in the Water (2006)
    Paul Giamatti and Bill Irwin in Lady in the Water (2006)
    Paul Giamatti in Lady in the Water (2006)
    Paul Giamatti and M. Night Shyamalan in Lady in the Water (2006)
    Jared Harris, Joseph D. Reitman, Jeffrey Wright, John Boyd, and Grant Monohon in Lady in the Water (2006)
    Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard in Lady in the Water (2006)
    Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard in Lady in the Water (2006)
    Paul Giamatti in Lady in the Water (2006)
    Lady in the Water (2006)
    Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard in Lady in the Water (2006)
    Bryce Dallas Howard in Lady in the Water (2006)
    June Kyoto Lu in Lady in the Water (2006)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Paul Giamatti
    Paul Giamatti
    • Cleveland Heep
    Bryce Dallas Howard
    Bryce Dallas Howard
    • Story
    Jeffrey Wright
    Jeffrey Wright
    • Mr. Dury
    Bob Balaban
    Bob Balaban
    • Harry Farber
    Sarita Choudhury
    Sarita Choudhury
    • Anna Ran
    Cindy Cheung
    Cindy Cheung
    • Young-Soon Choi
    M. Night Shyamalan
    M. Night Shyamalan
    • Vick Ran
    Freddy Rodríguez
    Freddy Rodríguez
    • Reggie
    Bill Irwin
    Bill Irwin
    • Mr. Leeds
    Mary Beth Hurt
    Mary Beth Hurt
    • Mrs. Bell
    Noah Gray-Cabey
    Noah Gray-Cabey
    • Joey Dury
    Joseph D. Reitman
    Joseph D. Reitman
    • Long Haired Smoker
    Jared Harris
    Jared Harris
    • Goatee Smoker
    Grant Monohon
    • Emaciated Smoker
    John Boyd
    John Boyd
    • One-Eyebrow Smoker
    Ethan Cohn
    Ethan Cohn
    • Glasses Smoker
    June Kyoto Lu
    June Kyoto Lu
    • Mrs. Choi
    • (as June Kyoko Lu)
    Tovah Feldshuh
    Tovah Feldshuh
    • Mrs. Bubchik
      • M. Night Shyamalan
      • M. Night Shyamalan
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The reason for the film's $70m production budget, despite being set in one location, was because the apartment complex and the pool were built for the film. Some of this film was shot in Levittown, Pennsylvania at a Jacobson logistics warehouse site (director M. Night Shyamalan had committed to using films sites in PA). The set, built on the warehouse site, includes the apartment complex and a half city block of row houses. Occasional footage was shot inside the overflow area of the warehouse. Most of the filming was completed after Jacobson work hours.
    • Goofs
      (at around 32 mins) When he sees Vick's book "The Cookbook," Cleveland Heep says to himself, "This is s-s-s-s-silly." Stutterers often do not have a stammer when talking to themselves; they stutter primarily when talking to other people. However, Cleveland's stutter is a symptom of Post-traumatic Stress, in which case the stutter typically remains constant regardless of social situation until the stress is dealt with.
    • Quotes

      Story: [holding Cleveland's journal] Your thoughts are very sad. Most are of one night. A night a man entered your home when you were not there. He stole many things and killed your wife and children. That is when you stopped being happy. You were a doctor. I am very sorry for you. You believe you have no purpose. You help all that live here.

      Cleveland Heep: Anybody can do this job, Story.

      Story: You have a purpose. All beings have a purpose.

    • Crazy credits
      After the movie has ended, and all of the credits have scrolled, there appears the following dedication from M. Night Shyamalan: "To my daughters, I'll tell you this story one more time. But then go to bed."
    • Connections
      Featured in HBO First Look: Lady in the Water (2006)
    • Soundtracks
      El Cayuco
      Written by Tito Puente

      Performed by Mambo All-Stars

      Courtesy of Peer-Southern Productions, Inc.

    User reviews1.1K

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    M. Night Shyamalan writes a children's book
    It might sound like a joke, that the master of modern macabre, the man who wove such disturbingly morbid tales like "The Sixth Sense", would write a children's book. But he did. And that's the key to understanding and enjoying this movie.

    Sometime after the births of his 3 daughters, Shyamalan found himself, as all parents do, ad-libbing a bedtime story to entertain his younguns. It began as a fairytale set in the family's back yard, weaving creative dimensions around common things like the swimming pool, the sprinklers, the tall grass, etc. Who knows how many such stories were rejected by his toughest critics (his daughters), but this one persisted and became a family favorite. Over time & retelling, he refined it, gave it more depth and got it to the point where he realized that this would make a great children's book like the ones he himself grew up on: "Where the Wild Things Are", "The Giving Tree" and such. Lo & behold, he did it.

    Where YOUR story begins is that you're considering whether to watch this movie. "Lady in the Water" (the movie) was intended to accompany the book, not as a cinematic replacement but rather as a way to launch the book. As he says on the DVD interviews, this movie is like a "big brother" to the book, introducing it to the world and then allowing the book to flourish on its own in the years to come as, he hopes, a more enduring work of art.

    Therefore, this film is NOT some adult story disguised as a fairytale, not like the darkly humorous "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" (1971) or the bitingly satirical "Edward Scissorhands" (1990) or the very complex & symbolic "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006). No, "Lady in the Water" is a simple, sweet children's story with perhaps a salty coating for adults, but inside it's a children's story nonetheless.

    So you're sitting there thinking, "Ok then why is it rated PG-13 instead of G? And why does the trailer show a lot of dark, brooding and creepy shots like in Shyamalan's suspense flicks?" Well, I agree that it's a weird way to present a children's story, but I figure it's Shyamalan's way of reaching out to the adults who might end up reading the book to their kids. The movie does have spots of great acidic humor as only adults will understand. It has moments of violence and frightening visuals. There are some oblique references to pot smoking. And it has a chick who's basically naked through the entire movie (nothing is shown explicitly, but nudity is implied well enough). However, the core story remains very sweet and children's-booky. And that may disappoint many adults who are expecting something more complicated or challenging.

    My advice to adults would be to focus not on the plot but instead on the characters. The characters are very well crafted, full of unspoken depth and some with a profound sorrow that's out of place in fairy tales. Paul Giamatti plays the lovable, dorky maintenance guy at the center of the story, but through his excellent performance in brief moments we see that his is deeply haunted by an unspeakable terror in his past. Similarly, Shyamalan himself makes a significant appearance as a secondary character who is haunted by an equally disturbing future. Another character, who only has about 2 lines in the movie, is seen glaring at the world with utter contempt & cynicism--perhaps someone who is haunted by the present. These subtle things are not essential to the fairytale, but they add tremendous characterization for those of us who aren't satisfied with a simple fairytale written for kids.

    Oh, I forgot the absolute best character, Bob Balaban who plays a comically arrogant, jaded, cynical film critic who insists that there is no originality left, and all stories are predictable to a fault. He goes so far as to start predicting how his own role in "Lady in the Water" will play out, comically chipping away at the proverbial 4th wall which separates fictional characters from us, the audience. His big scene toward the end of the movie had me absolutely howling.

    So there you have it. "Lady in the Water" will certainly not be everyone's cup of tea, but it presents something I've never seen before: a genuine fairytale, perhaps as seen through the eyes of an adult, but still unmistakably written for kids. It's sort of like attending a puppet show where, occasionally the sweaty puppeteer lifts up the curtain and asks someone to get him another beer. I can't think of any other way to describe it.
    helpful•9
    1
    • rooprect
    • Nov 4, 2014

    FAQ6

    • Is the story here actually based on a Chinese folk tale?
    • What is a narf?
    • What is a scrunt?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 21, 2006 (United States)
      • United States
      • Warner Bros (France)
      • Warner Bros. (Spain)
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Levittown, Pennsylvania, USA
    • Production companies
      • Warner Bros.
      • Blinding Edge Pictures
      • Legendary Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 50 minutes
      • Color
      • SDDS
      • Dolby Digital EX
      • DTS-ES

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