The Quiet

The Quiet is a visually arresting but dramatically inert little film that admittedly boasts several impressive performances – with star Camilla Belle an obvious standout. Belle plays Dot, a deaf (or is she?) teenager who moves in with the Deer family after her mother dies. She’s shocked to discover just how screwed up these people are, as mom (Edie Falco) is a compulsive pill-popper, daughter (Elisha Cuthbert) is a rebellious punk, and dad (Martin Donovan) is hiding an explosive secret that just may destroy his family for good. The most obvious problem with The Quiet is the bizarre mystery revolving around Dot’s hearing loss, which is essentially superfluous thanks to the presence of a couple of sequences in which we hear what she does (muffled sounds, but not total deafness). Certain revelations that come towards the film’s conclusion undermine everything that’s come before it, which would be easy enough to overlook if the rest of the film were even remotely compelling. Aside from a few enjoyably trashy plot developments towards the end, The Quiet plays out like a subpar movie-of-the-week (albeit one with above-average performances).

** out of ****