The Keeping Hours (2017)

On the recommendation of Susan’s daughter, we watched this film on Netflix last night. I suppose I expected a spooky horror story, but this one, apart from a few haunting special effects, turned out to be a tale of spiritual intervention of a child, who had died seven years earlier, for his parents who had since divorced over their guilt of his death. To say, literally, that only a child can reconcile two grieving parents, is an understatement. He just wanted everything to return to the way it was before his death.

Now, as we’re on the subject of life after death, I should like to point out a few ‘fantasy’ elements of this film which don’t ring true: poltergeist (noisy spirit) activity is usually connected to a living being, and is not really a ghost action; a disturbed teenager, for example, can cause electrical circuits to blow because of unresolved anger and frustration issues. In Jacob’s case, his parents arguing about who was to blame for his death might have set him off, but I would suggest that the producers of the film wanted dramatic scenes, so exploding light bulbs would have been expected.

Jacob, if he were truly just haunting his family home, would not have ventured outside, and he definitely would not have gone to the beach in his father’s car. The image of him building sandcastles with his parents seemed a step too far, for me, anyway.

This song played several times throughout the film: it was first played during Jacob’s parents’ first dance at their wedding (the same day Jacob died) and was ‘magically’ played whenever Jacob wanted to remind his parents of what they once had together. (It seemed to me that he could make the song come on the radio/stereo at will.)

The other recurring song was “Frère Jacques”, as sung (in English) by Jacob, himself.

Frère Jacques
Frère Jacques
Dormez-vous
Dormez-vous
Sonnez les matines
Sonnez les matines
Ding, dang, dong
Ding, dang, dong

Writer unknown

I suppose this was Jacob’s way of saying “wake up, people”.

But the subtext of the film is the truth, as far as I am concerned: Love Never Dies.