Fragile is set on the Isle of Wight where an old hospital called Mercy Falls is due to be shut down, all but a handful of patients have already been moved to another hospital but after a major train crash beds become scarce so a ward of child remain there. New night nurse Amy Nicholls (Calista Flockhart) takes charge & forms a bond with a young terminal patient named Maggie (Yasmin Murphy) who claims that she can see another girl named Charlotte, the other nurses & staff put Charlotte down to Maggie's imaginary friend but Amy is not so sure. Cahrlotte is considered an urban legend at Mercy Falls as various children have seen her down the years but as the closing down process continues unexplained injuries & even death's make Amy question what is going on, Amy thinks it could have something to do with the deserted closed down second floor that has a dark past & starts to investigate...
Shot under the title Frágiles this Spanish & British co-production was co-written & directed by Jaume Balagueró, despite some of the surprisingly positive comments & reviews Fragile is nothing more than a slightly better than average ghost story about a vengeful spirit & little else. Fragile goes for atmosphere & a long sustained build-up rather than flashy effects & novelty kills, some may like it's leisurely pace & get into the story & it's character's & while I thought it was reasonably watchable & modestly effective nothing impressed me that much. The story is your typical vengeful spirit one, the whole angle about people seeing ghost's if themselves are about to die is contradicted at the end & the emotional core of the Fragile which is undoubtedly the relationship between night nurse Amy & terminally ill Maggie didn't move me that much, or at least as much as it maybe should have done. At just under an hour & forty minutes it seemed longer to me, again there's a lot of build-up which is competently done & acted but I must admit I just started to lose interest. The explanations behind the haunting & ghost's in general are vague & offer nothing new over what has been suggested before, while I can't say I hated Fragile as it's well made & tells a reasonable story at it's own pace I never really got into it & I was never enthralled or gripped or that interested in anything that going on. An OK supernatural ghost story but far from special.
Fragile is certainly stylishly made with sterile colours & good use of dimly lit hospital corridors, I am sure the intention was to build the suspense & tension during the first half & then go for all out thrills & chills during the second half but again I just never got that into it or the story. There's no real gore, someone's leg is impaled on a pipe & a deformed ghost is show's up but Fragile is more about atmosphere & low keys thrills than all out horror & cheap scares although the last twenty minutes does feel a little like that with a hospital crumbling around various people & a ghost showing up. Apparently edited in the US to get a lower rating the uncut version has a few swear words & a bit of gore but nothing that significantly alters the film.
Filmed mainly in Spain with a Spanish crew it's surprising it was shot in English, it's well made for sure but I doubt I will remember much about it in a week or two. The acting is good from a solid cast, one of very few feature film appearances from TV star Flockhart while Richard Roxburgh turns up in a supporting role.
Fragile is a film that requires patience & is alright if your looking for a slow moving ghost story but don't expect some sort of masterpiece as it's fairly predictable & I didn't think there was anything new here at all. Not a bad film at all but just not a great one either.
Shot under the title Frágiles this Spanish & British co-production was co-written & directed by Jaume Balagueró, despite some of the surprisingly positive comments & reviews Fragile is nothing more than a slightly better than average ghost story about a vengeful spirit & little else. Fragile goes for atmosphere & a long sustained build-up rather than flashy effects & novelty kills, some may like it's leisurely pace & get into the story & it's character's & while I thought it was reasonably watchable & modestly effective nothing impressed me that much. The story is your typical vengeful spirit one, the whole angle about people seeing ghost's if themselves are about to die is contradicted at the end & the emotional core of the Fragile which is undoubtedly the relationship between night nurse Amy & terminally ill Maggie didn't move me that much, or at least as much as it maybe should have done. At just under an hour & forty minutes it seemed longer to me, again there's a lot of build-up which is competently done & acted but I must admit I just started to lose interest. The explanations behind the haunting & ghost's in general are vague & offer nothing new over what has been suggested before, while I can't say I hated Fragile as it's well made & tells a reasonable story at it's own pace I never really got into it & I was never enthralled or gripped or that interested in anything that going on. An OK supernatural ghost story but far from special.
Fragile is certainly stylishly made with sterile colours & good use of dimly lit hospital corridors, I am sure the intention was to build the suspense & tension during the first half & then go for all out thrills & chills during the second half but again I just never got that into it or the story. There's no real gore, someone's leg is impaled on a pipe & a deformed ghost is show's up but Fragile is more about atmosphere & low keys thrills than all out horror & cheap scares although the last twenty minutes does feel a little like that with a hospital crumbling around various people & a ghost showing up. Apparently edited in the US to get a lower rating the uncut version has a few swear words & a bit of gore but nothing that significantly alters the film.
Filmed mainly in Spain with a Spanish crew it's surprising it was shot in English, it's well made for sure but I doubt I will remember much about it in a week or two. The acting is good from a solid cast, one of very few feature film appearances from TV star Flockhart while Richard Roxburgh turns up in a supporting role.
Fragile is a film that requires patience & is alright if your looking for a slow moving ghost story but don't expect some sort of masterpiece as it's fairly predictable & I didn't think there was anything new here at all. Not a bad film at all but just not a great one either.