A friend of mine told me I should check out the Spanish thriller on Netflix called The Chalk Line. Oh, I'm so glad I did. And I'd love to share with you guys how the movie plays out.
There's this couple who temporarily adopts a young girl that they found wandering around alone in the night. We meet Paula and Simone as they're driving home one night, and they happen upon a little girl who's walking just in the middle of the road.
Now, after she's overseen by the hospital, and then after a while, the couple actually convinces social workers to let them take her home while her family is trying to be located. This is a taut and extremely anxious thriller that slowly builds until it explodes.
We watch the couple try their best to speak with Clara, the little girl, and they eventually discover that she responds when a chalk line is drawn around her area, but she's unable to cross it.
As this unfolds, there are several different theories that really just popped into my head. And because I hadn't watched a trailer, I didn't know the type of story that I was in for.
Was this supernatural? Was it a monster story? No, really. It's grounded in reality, which I think it makes it even more terrifying. There's a sense that Paula is a bit of an unreliable narrator as the story progresses.
She sees things or experiences things that seem to contradict what others hold to be true. And I love the doubt that this causes within the storytelling. I couldn't help but wonder, is there gaslighting going on? Is Paula truly imagining certain instances or are they really happening? And they have an explanation that we just haven't been shown yet.
This thing creates uncomfortable tension in between the couple as emotions rise and raw feelings emerge. The couple also has their own struggles that they've gone through. And while the story doesn't dive heavily into all of it, we're given enough context all throughout the film to completely understand what's transpiring between them.
Time passage is a bit of indeterminate in the movie. I couldn't tell most times if a day had passed or if it were several days or even a couple of weeks. While this isn't a huge deal, it does help to ground the progress or lack of progress that Paula and Simone make with Clara.
The young actress who plays Clara Eva Tenier, she is wonderful in the role because through a lot of this movie, she has to emote and carry her character without speaking. We need to be drawn into her and feel for her so that we can fully engage. There are times when she acts out like a lot of young kids do, but we need to be able to maintain sympathy for her despite a tantrum.
Otherwise, if we don't like her, the story loses some of the intrigue or at least the concern for her. During the second half of the story, Paula engages in some sleuthing. And I love how more of the mystery really begins to take shape.
We've spent the first half just getting attached to the characters and then engaged in the story. And then we begin to get context to what possibly could be going on. This is also where the story takes a very dark turn.
The content is disturbing and it's haunting because we know it occurs in real life. And while this is extremely sad to uncover, the information also drives up the urgency for Paula to figure out what happened to Clara. This is an hour and 46 minutes, and the filmmakers expertly use the time to craft just a harrowing tale.
I don't want to call this a slow burn, but it's not quick either. There's just a steady building of the story as each scene passes. A bit more tension is piled on every time.
The final act of the film is nail biting with anxiety. I mean, I was literally sitting with my arms curled up in the just stressful anticipation at what was going to happen. Everything that had been building came to an amazing climax.
And that's what we want from a thriller. I was tense, yelling at the TV and just totally invested in what was happening. And as engaging as this was, there were a couple of questions that formed as I was watching, just based on some manner of characterisms and behaviors that I observed.
But the story then didn't address or confirm them. So we just left me wondering about those bits. These aren't enough to break me from what was going on, and they didn't ruin the outcome, but they did niggle at me once the movie had ended.
Despite the couple of questions that were left hanging for me, there's an intimacy to the production that is designed to quietly engage us. The characters are framed really well with this sort of dulled color palette that's used throughout. And it conveys a bit of sadness or melancholy as well as maybe even some hopelessness.
But there are also uses of color that help to combat those feelings, which I like the struggle that that created then in my mind. I wasn't totally a fan, though, of how most of the camera work felt handheld. I mean, it's not shaky cam, but it's always in motion.
So it's slowly bobbing or swaying. I mean, even when the characters are sitting and not moving much. And while this does make it feel sort of like we're there with them, it also made me notice the camera.
And that broke me out of the intimacy at times. This is an excellent thriller. And despite some terribly disturbing story content, it's told in a captivating way that's going to put you on the edge of your seat with your muscles tensed.
Conclusion
In conclusion, The chalk line delivers a powerful story of longing and hope, combined with a harrowing scenario that could be ripped from the headlines. The performances are powerful and raw, all while being mixed with doubt, showcasing emotional depth designed to captivate. The thriller patiently leads audiences through the steps of its storytelling, ending with a nail biting climax. I rate The Chalk Line four and 8.5 out of ten.