Started good and fast. Very soon the boy entered the movie and it started to bug me because he doesn't speak or even try to communicate. Is he an alien? This plot device destroyed the realistic atmosphere a bit and seemed cliché. I expected him to speak later on, like it was supposed to be a shocking reveal. I decided to see how it developed...
Meanwhile it was great in other ways. I really got the sense that Frances was lonely and had some deep emotional issues and needs. Played brilliantly by Sandy Dennis. Outstanding performance.
This movie for the most part is one character talking to herself, slowing revealing herself, and in the same location. It should be completely boring but it's not. It's intense and well written. How does the mute boy pan out?
SPOILER?
The 'will he or won't he' speak' bug I had didn't last long. The realism returns. A plot twists. You really feel Frances sad and repressed feelings in this movie. Even when she's not in the scene itself you think of her pain.
It's a slow movies and sometimes uneventful but it doesn't seem to matter. The void is filled with atmospheric tension and increasing psycological information about Frances.
I liked it a lot. Chilling. Tense. Real. Sad. The ending was good but too abrupt for me.
I preferred this a lot over Altman's other movie Images.