Latvia/Russia/Germany/UK. 2018.
Crew
Director – Andrew Desmond, Screenplay – Andrew Desmond & Arthur Morin, Producers – Aija Berzina, Laurent Fumeron, Alise Gelze, Daniel Goroshko, Genny Goudard, Julien Loeffler, Rodolphe Sanze, Sergey Selyanov & Alexander Skladchikov & Fabrice Smadja, Photography – Janis Eglitis, Music – Alexis Maingaud, Visual Effects Supervisor – Sebastien Drouin, Visual Effects – Arri Media (Supervisor – David Laubsch) & Image in Work, Special Effects – Mikus Bevalds, Rolands Dinkovs, Algars Rosans & Druvis Vectirans, Prosthetics – Jean-Christophe Spadaccini, Production Design – Audrius Dumikas. Production Company – Tasse Film/CTB Company/Arri Media/Creativity Capital/Flexibon Films.
Cast
Freya Tingley (Rose Fisher), Simon Abkarian (Charles Vernais), James Faulkner (Sir Victor Ferdinand), Rutger Hauer (James Marlowe), Catherine Schaub-Abkarian (Therese), Matt Barber (James), Christopher Brand (The Notary)
Plot
In London, Rose Fisher, a top violinist, receives news that her father James Marlowe has died. Marlowe was regarded as one of the greatest composers of his generation but withdrew to seclusion in a chateau in France. Though she was distant from her father, Rose takes title to the chateau. She immediately breaks off her recording session and fires her agent Charles Vernais to go to the estate in France. There she finds her father’s last sonata and tries to piece it together. She gives Charles a copy and he investigates the strange symbols found on the score and comes to realise that these have occult significance.
The Sonata was a feature-length debut for Andrew Desmond who elsewhere has directed music video, along with segments for horror anthologies such as Galaxy of Horrors (2017) and Asylum: Twisted Horror and Fantasy Tales (2020).
Classical music has always had a strange fascination for the horror genre. This may well have begun with The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and its various remakes with its story of a tortured, deformed composer touched by the beatific voice of Christine, as well as other mad composers in works such as Hangover Square (1945). There has also been the mixing of classical music and the occult with The Mephisto Waltz (1971) where Alan Alda has his body stolen by a composer; The Red Violin (1998) about a cursed violin; and both Paganini Horror (1989) and The Piper (2023) that come with the similar idea to The Sonata of a classical score having the properties of a summoning spell.
By its setting in the world of classical music, The Sonata lifts itself above the world of the average horror film. It feels like a work that belongs more in the world of British arthouse – taking place around a French chateau with the heroine a classical violinist and James Faulkner playing a member of the British knighthood – than most other occult works of similar ilk. The chateau has ornately laid out grounds and classical statuary that has some ominous effect as it starts to come to life.
The film is well cast. There is Rutger Hauer in one of his last performances before his death in 2019 and not looking at all well (which I guess is what the character is meant to be). I had not paid much attention to Australian actress Freya Tingley before this, but right from the opening scene she is a tightly emotionally bound 5’2” powerhouse of focused intent.
On the other hand, The Sonata is a classy looking set-up that lays the groundwork for impressive things only to arrive at a weak conclusion. Fully three-quarters of the plot is invested in the search into the meaning of the symbols on the score and the revelations of increasingly occult connections. However, this pays off in underwhelming ways. [PLOT SPOILERS] There is the scene where Freya Tingley does play the sonata and a demonic figure appears. At the same time, her agent Simon Abkarian is abruptly and unfoundedly revealed to have had sinister intent all along. The fadeout to the film is Freya Tingley playing the sonata in a concert hall and the camera closing in to medium shot on her as she is revealed to have glowing eyes. I expected more of the film.
Trailer here