Gaslight

Gaslight is a 2017 British-French-Irish psychological thriller musical film written, co-produced and directed by J.C. Chandor, and starring an ensemble cast of Shell Ruin, Michael Fassbender, Cara Delevingne, Nicholas Hoult, Juliet Stevenson, June Whitfield and François Cluzet. The film is adapted from Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gas Light, about a woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is going insane. This is the third film adaption of the play, following two films released in 1940 and 1944 respectively. Unlike the play which is set during the Victorian era, the film is set during the current day but uses fashion and imagery from the 1900s as a reference to the play.

Gaslight received extremely negative reviews and was regarded as one of the worst films of 2017. Critics praised Chandor'ss screenplay and direction, but paned Fassbender and Ruin's performances, Ruin's score and the film's musical numbers.

Plot
World-famous opera singer Alice Alquist has just been murdered. The perpetrator bolted, without the jewels he sought, after being interrupted by a child—Paula (Abigail Hardingham)—Alice's niece, who was raised by her aunt following Paula's own mother's death years earlier.

Paula is sent to Italy so that she can train to be an opera star with the same teacher who once trained Alice. Paula studies with him for years, all the while trying to forget that terrible night at Number 9 Thornton Square in London.

Now an adult, Paula (Shell Ruin) meets Gregory Anton (Michael Fassbender), and, in the course of a two-week-long whirlwind romance, falls in love with him and they quickly marry. Paula ends her long tutelage to marry him, and is persuaded by Gregory to leave the society and friends she knows in order to return to London, where she has no acquaintance, in order to live in the long-vacant London townhouse her aunt bequeathed her and, to help calm her anxieties, suggests they store all of Alice's furnishings in the attic. Before they do, Paula discovers a letter addressed to her aunt by a man named Sergius Bauer, dated only two days before the murder, tucked away in a music book. Gregory's reaction is swift and violent; however, he quickly composes himself, explaining his outburst as one of frustration at the bad memories his bride is experiencing.

After Alice's belongings are packed away in the attic and the door blocked, events take a turn for the bizarre. At the Tower of London, Paula loses an heirloom brooch that Gregory had given her, despite its having been stored safely in her handbag. A picture disappears from the walls of the house, and Gregory says that Paula took it, one of many instances of her removing and hiding it, but Paula has no recollection of having done so. Paula also hears footsteps coming from above her in the sealed attic, and sees the gaslights dim and brighten for no apparent reason. Gregory suggests that these are all figments of Paula's imagination.

Gregory does everything in his power to isolate his wife from other people. Gregory allows her neither to go out nor to have visitors, implying that he is doing so for her own good, because her nerves have been acting up, causing her to become a kleptomaniac, and to imagine things that are not real. He is also jealous and accusatory whenever others express an interest in her. On the one occasion when Gregory does take her out to a musical gathering at a friend's house, he shows Paula his watch chain, from which his watch has mysteriously disappeared. When Gregory finds it in her handbag, Paula becomes hysterical, and he takes her home. Paula begins to believe she should not go out in public.

The young maid, Nancy (Cara Delevigne), does little to improve the situation. Whenever she shows up, her face betrays a feeling of disdain; Paula becomes convinced that Nancy loathes her. Gregory secretly flirts with the maid, and tells Paula she is paranoid and is imagining the maid's disdain.

Unknown to Paula, her husband is in fact Sergius Bauer, her aunt's murderer. He sought out Paula in Italy, managed to win her heart, married her, and suggested they live in London, all with the aim of getting back into the house to continue searching for Alice's jewels. He has been secretly rummaging through Alice's belongings in the attic to find the jewels he is certain are there. The footsteps Paula hears in the attic are thus his, and the flickering gaslights he claims she has imagined are in reality caused by him turning the attic lights on, reducing the flow of gas to the downstairs lights. The kleptomania exhibited by Paula is all a sleight-of-hand ruse perpetrated by Gregory.

Gregory does everything in his power to convince his wife that she is going mad. If she were certified insane and institutionalised, he could search without impediment for the jewels. The plan almost works. Paula is saved by her trip to the Tower of London—although the visit was the catalyst that enabled Gregory to cement his control over her, it also led to a chance encounter with Inspector Brian Cameron of Scotland Yard (Nicholas Hoult), an admirer of Alice Alquist since his childhood. Seeing Paula, whose resemblance to her aunt catches his attention, rekindles Cameron's interest in the cold case, an interest that is heightened when he learns that Alquist was in possession of valuable jewels that were never found—a fact kept from the public at the request of a certain royal personage. Cameron was also present at the aforementioned musical gathering, and thus witnessed Gregory's strange behaviour from an independent perspective. With the aid of the police constable on the beat, Cameron figures out that Gregory slips into a vacant house on the same street, proceeds to the roof, and enters his own attic via a skylight. Cameron eventually manages to get inside the house to see Paula while Gregory is in the attic. Her sanity is quickly restored when he confirms that the gaslights are indeed flickering and she discovers the letter from Bauer that Gregory had told her was a figment of her imagination. On that same evening, Gregory at last discovers the jewels he has sought for so long: hidden in plain sight, disguised as costume jewelry. However, when he comes down, Cameron accosts him and with the help of the constable arrests him and ties him up.

Paula indulges herself in a bit of revenge as she psychologically tortures Gregory after he has been bound to a chair, tantalizing him with the suggestion that she might free him so he can escape arrest, trial, and execution, before calling in Cameron to take him away.

Cast

 * Michael Fassbender as Gregory Anton/Sergius Bauer
 * Shell Ruin as Paula Alquist Anton, adult
 * Abigail Hardingham as Paula Alquist, teenager
 * Nicholas Hoult as Brian Cameron
 * Juliet Stevenson as Miss Bessie Thwaites
 * Cara Delevingne as Nancy Oliver
 * June Whitfield as Elizabeth Tompkins
 * François Cluzet as Maestro Guardi
 * Hugh Laurie as General Huddleston, Brian's supervisor
 * Charles Wilkinson as Mr. Mufflin, Paula's lawyer
 * Malcom J. Williams as PC Williams
 * Heddy Thatcher as Lady Mildred Dalroy
 * Edgar Oldsman as Lord Freddie Dalroy
 * Jacob Matthews as Pianist

Development
Shell Ruin made her foray into acting with the 2016 musical web series Died Blonde, her first major acting role following several cameo appearances in film throughout her career. The role earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy at the 24th Golden Globe Awards. Prior to filming for the series, Ruin sought to buy the rights to remake the 1944 film Gaslight, with intentions of turning it into a musical. Ruin was looking for her first major big screen role, with intentions of catching the attention of critics and the Academy. The 1944 adaption of the film was a huge success at the 17th Academy Awards in 1945. Ingrid Bergman won Best Actress for her portrayal as Paula Anquist Anton. The film also received nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography.

The rights were obtained in 2015 however Ruin didn't want to direct the film due to her lack of experience, and having decided to oversee the original soundtrack, Ruin didn't want to weigh herself down with the workload. In April 2016, The film was taken on by American film director J. C. Chandor who was looking for his next project after the success of A Most Violent Year (2014). With Ruin taking on the lead role of Paula Alquist Anton, that same month, Irish actor Michael Fassbender was cast as her on-screen husband, Gregory Anton/Sergius Bauer. Cara Delevingne, Nicholas Hoult, Juliet Stevenson and François Cluzet were all cast in supporting roles the following month. Chandor wanted to keep a strictly British cast, with the exception of Cluzet who is French and Fassbender who is Irish. Then-unknown British actress Abigail Hardingham portrays Paula as a young girl in the beginning of the film. During filming, Hardingham would rise to fame thanks to the television series The Missing.

Filming
Principal photography for Gaslight started in May 2016 in London, England and concluded in July after a 45 day shoot. Ruin began filming immediately after wrapping Died Blonde, and continued to film during the recording of her ninth studio album Nocturne. The motion picture was shot in sequential order, in contrast to most films which are not shot sequentially due to scheduling, budget and other miscellaneous concerns.

Score
Gaslight: Original Motion Picture Score was released on June 12, 2017 via Fusion Records.

Tracklisting
Ruin oversaw the film's musical score.


 * "Thornton Square"
 * "In Love"
 * "A Most Mysterious Case"
 * "Good Mourning"
 * "No. 9"
 * "Light the Gas"
 * "Strangled"
 * "Encore (Prelude)"
 * "Jewels"
 * "Don't Worry So"
 * "Goodnight Nancy"
 * "Oh Gregory"
 * "She's Getting Worse Sir"
 * "The Lights"
 * "Good Evening"
 * "A Public Display"
 * "No. 5"
 * "Asylum"
 * "After All These Years"
 * "Jewels (Reprise)"
 * "Paula!"
 * "A Woman's Life"
 * "Goodbye Gregory"
 * "Epilogue"
 * "The End"
 * "Encore/Credits"

Promotion and release
Ruin appeared at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2016 to formally announce the film and its impending release. The film premiered at Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2016. It opened to major U.S. markets in a limited release on July 7, 2016, before opening to a wide (and international) release on July 14.

Commercial response
Gaslight received mainly negative reviews, with critics panning Ruin, Fassbender, Delevigne and Whitfield's performances, Chandor's direction and screenplay. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 19% based on 231 reviews, with an average rating of 3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Badly-acted but lovely to look at, Gaslight further underscores writer-director J.C Chandor's distinctive visual and narrative skill." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 21 out of 100, based on 45 critics.

Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised the film, stating "J.C. Chandor's first film since A Most Violent Year is another winner", and complimenting the performances of Ruin, Delevigne, Whitfield and Hoult. Steve Pulaski of Influx Magazine gave the film a perfect A+, saying, "Gaslight is one of the best films of the year. A layered, masterful work of interwoven storylines mixed with crime-drama craft, infused with the same kind of pulsating. The film features gifted actors throwing themselves into performances that require massive versatility between scenes."

Geoffrey Macnab of the The Independent awarded the film two stars, panningthe performances and the direction, and stating, "Gaslight is extraordinarily deft in the way it combines romanticism and bleakness. However, it's a film that easily slips into extreme pretentiousness."