The Ones Below movie review & film summary (2016)

Are you losing your mind? Or do you just need a nap? Farr roams around smartly and confidently in that gray area.

His film begins optimistically enough, though, as married, attractive Londoners Kate (Clémence Poésy) and Justin (Stephen Campbell Moore) visit the doctor for an ultrasound of their impending bundle of joy. Everything looks great and they’re all smiles driving home, but the tinkly, slightly eerie scores suggests something is afoot early on.

Soon enough, new neighbors have moved into the flat beneath theirs—one that was left empty following the death of its occupant, along with a garden that’s abandoned and overgrown. But the fastidious, fashionably dressed Theresa (Laura Birn) and Jon (David Morrissey) spruce things up quickly with their candy-colored décor and meticulous floral design. And—what are the odds?—Theresa happens to be pregnant, too, just a few weeks further along than Kate.

And so these privileged blondes, both expectant moms, form what seems like a natural friendship—although Theresa is always a little too eager, too complimentary, too familiar. (Birn, a sleek, Finnish beauty, is simultaneously sexy and foreboding.) Farr expertly puts us on edge through the simplest conversations, with attempts at small talk that always feel slightly awkward.

This is before he even formally introduces Jon, who has the exact opposite temperament from his wife’s. Whereas she’s sunny and vibrant, he’s brusque and humorless. His uptight insistence on removing shoes and lining them up side-by-side outside the front door tells you everything you need to know about him. “The Ones Below” is full of observant, idiosyncratic details like this throughout.

Their difference in demeanor becomes especially clear when Kate and Justin invite them upstairs for a dinner party. Theresa politely declines an offer of wine, insisting she wouldn’t dream of drinking when she’s expecting, only to guzzle down several glasses of chardonnay when Jon isn’t looking. And, well … things go significantly downhill from there. That’s all we’ll say.

Cut to a few months later. Kate has given birth to her baby, a little boy named Billy. And here’s where things start getting really tense. Billy is healthy and Kate and Justin are doing fine, if a little bleary-eyed, at first. But odd occurrences and disturbing noises begin piling up, steadily driving them to a frenzy: the blast of a car alarm night after night, or an overflowing bathtub, or muffled sounds on the baby monitor. A neighborly offer of a glass of lemonade or a cat slinking underfoot suddenly seem sinister, and Kate and Justin’s airy flat makes them feel claustrophobic.

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