KNOCKING: I Guess Nobody Was Home

Sometimes a film has everything it needs to be truly effective, yet wanders away from its goal. Knocking, directed by Freda Kempff, works well to build the tension of a psychological thriller while managing to drone on so quietly it makes it hard to care. The film revolves around Molly (played with manic subtlety by Cecillia Milocco), a woman who has recently been released from a mental institution after suffering a nervous breakdown. Trying to get her life back on track and forget the pain of her past, she moves into a new apartment where she hears a rhythmic knocking sound from the floor above. Molly begins to surmise someone might be kidnapped. After questioning the neighbors upstairs, going so far as to call the police to investigate, and uncovering no sign of a problem, she starts to question her own mental state while becoming more obsessed with the nightly knocks.

A solid storyline, based on a book by Johan Theorin, the adaptation has a tough time trying to find a voice worth following.

Who’s There?

The setup consists of a series of dreamlike flashbacks of Molly and her girlfriend on a beach. Each time we are shown this series of events, more and more clues as to what drove Molly to have a nervous break are implied though never actually revealed (I want to say she drowned). These are a thankful respite from the unnervingly slow burn of the events of the main narrative. I could see what the first-time director Kempff what aim to accomplish and for an inaugural outing, she does well. Though the biggest detriment to the film is the dragging, nearly silent mood forced upon the audience. The element used to ratchet up the tension is also the same thing that takes it away.

Most of the film is nothing more than Molly moping around nervously trying to decipher where and why the knocking sounds are happening. Even when the sounds of a woman in distress are added to the mix, the tone is so blind to the action I found it hard to care very much fr anyone’s plight. It just takes so long to have anything interesting happen and that’s with a stunningly short 1 hour and 18-minute runtime. Honestly, if this was wrapped up in a tight 45 minutes, the doldrum moments would have gone by the wayside, giving the main character as well as the viewer much more to grasp for.

Can We Open A Window?

Dark is the best description of Knocking. The subject matter is dark. The trials of Molly are dark. But mostly, the background is dark. Windows are covered and closed. Nighttime scenes abound. I didn’t know if there was any actual light in Sweden to be had. I can’t imagine a world where one leaves a mental facility only to move to literally the most depressing building imaginable and this is supposed to help with their recovery. It’s no wonder Molly unravels as fast as she does, everything is a sepia tone realm of depression.

Everyone in the building who Molly questions are monotonal sad sacks who do nothing more than stare blankly when told of a possible woman in danger somewhere on their floor. Even the police. Yes, she did just get released from a mental health hospital, but in the beginning, Molly isn’t a raving lunatic acting out of sorts. She is a concerned neighbor making sure that she won’t be next on the kidnapper’s list. I guess word of a new tenant with issues travel’s fast in a small building, but have a little compassion.

The Finale

The film continues this way for its entirety. Molly dives deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of unrest, unraveling into the unnerved woman she thought she’d left back at the hospital. Her days, or nights (who could tell?) consist of her trying to decipher who is knocking and crying above her. She begins to realize that the sounds may be in Morse Code. An interesting conclusion which leads her to obsess over every tap. Nobody believes her, only furthering her descent into madness. If this sounds riveting, it should have been, though the swaths of downtime coupled with near silence do little to help you feel for her plight.

What could have been a powerful conclusion is muddled and weak. It felt as though I’d sat through a long joke with a great punchline, only to have the narrator stutter and begin again constantly. As stated earlier, the plot is very strong, but rather than lean into the madness that Molly is forced to endure, the story languishes in a seeming art house style better suited for another film. Adding insult to injury, the final few minutes of the climax is overlayed with a droning Gregorian chant style score which drains away all of the tension of the final reveal.

Maybe this film wasn’t for me. For her first-time feature debut, Kempff had a very stylistically sharp vision for Knocking which is bogged down by an overly meandering tone that feels a bit too shy to commit to the fear and paranoia it strives to convey.

Film Inquiry is always looking for a great recommendation from its audience. Is there a moody thriller you would suggest which has a third act reveal that really stuck with you? Leave a comment and keep the conversation going.

Knocking is available on VOD on October 19th.

Watch Knocking