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House of Voices  (2004) (a.k.a St Ange) Written and Directed by Pascal Laugier   House of voices is set in the French Alps in 1958. The opening scene shows a rather basic looking children's dormitory in the St Ange orphanage. It is night and outside a storm is raging. One of the young boys wakes up. He has been sleeping under the covers and has his torch under there with him. He switches it on and heads for the toilet. On his way to what is one of the most depressing looking toilet facilities that I have ever seen, the young boy walks past the girl's dormitory where a young girl calls to him: "Alex!... I need to go... Can I come with you?" The two children arrive at the toilets safely, but Alex has a problem with some of the taps and his companion blames The Scary Children, who apparently like to play with the plumbing. Within a matter of minutes Alex has met with an unfortunate and fatal accident. The scene ends with the young girl's scream competing against the noise of the ongoing storm outside. In the next scene, as the credits roll, a rather sombre looking Lady waits at a bus stop. A young lady gets off the bus and together the two women walk in silence through the woods to St Ange. The sombre Lady we learn is in charge of running St Ange and her companion, whose name is Anna, has been employed as the new cleaner. Alex's death has been the last of a spate of unfortunate accidents at the orphanage and the children are being removed that very day. Before leaving the young girl who was with Alex on the night of his death rushes to Anna and whispers in her ear that she must beware of The Scary Children. Within no time at all of the children have gone, along with most of the staff. Only two people remain to keep Anna company: Judith, a rather strange and backward young lady who has been raised at St Ange, and the cook, Helenka. Plus, of course, the spirits of The Scary Children. Soon Anna is busy with her duties and while Helenka gets on with hers Judith (who also  looks  a little scary by the way)  amuses herself with a gramophone (I'm in the mood for love) and takes her medication like a good little girl whenever Helenka presses the pills into her palm. Strange things are happening at the empty orphanage though and it seems to hold many secrets, of which Anna is sure the surly Helenka knows more about than she lets one, but Anna, we find, has a secret of her own. I can't say that I was overly impressed with House of Voices. I found the film a little slow moving and, at times, I had a job keeping track of the storyline. The setting works okay - the St Ange orphanage is quite a spooky looking place. I would say the main problem with the film is the script. It really isn't that good. The actors try their best to make it work, but there is only so much that anyone can do and, in the end, it doesn't matter how much anyone flogs a dead horse, in the end the horse remains just as dead. This film was a great disappointment to me from the beginning right through to the end, which was, to my mind, just plain stupid.   CAST  Virginie Ledoyen  ...  Anna Jurin  Lou Doillon         ...  Judith  Catriona MacColl ...  Francard  Dorina Lazar       ...  Helenka  Virginie Darmon  ...  Mathilde  Jerome Soufflet   ...  Daniel  Marie Herry        ...  Marie  Eric Prat             ...  Le responsable des services sociaux  Marin Chouquet  ...  Alex  DVD Details: Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes Filmed in Colour   HOME