The Gift

The Gift (2015) is about a couple moving to a new house and the husband running into someone from school. Simon and Robyn move to California. In a shop a man named Gordo recognises Simon. Simon barely remembers him. Gordo starts leaving gifts at the house: a bottle of wine, some fish, a note. Robyn is polite; Simon is uncomfortable. Eventually Simon cuts him off, and from then on strange things begin. The first half is built like a stalking story: an outside threat and a family on the defensive. In the second half the camera turns and the real subject becomes something Simon did at school. Robyn is at the centre. She learns slowly who her husband is, and the real tension is there. Joel Edgerton wrote, directed and played Gordo; his first film as director. Jason Bateman plays outside his comic register and the character is never forgiven. Rebecca Hall plays Robyn. The house is used like a character: glass walls make everything visible and there are no curtains. The move in the final section caused argument; the film leaves a question unanswered and does so deliberately. It was made cheaply and did very well. There are few jump scares; the tension is built on information. It runs 108 minutes. Good for: psychological thrillers, clever construction, and character drama. Less good for: the subject is bullying and revenge, and the ending is uncomfortably ambiguous.