What Maisie Knew (2012)

Despite some minor flaws What Maisie Knew (dir. Scott McGehee & David Siegel) is a moving and heartbreaking film about adults too invested in their own narcissistic lives to be able to pay attention to the needs of a child. What Maisie Knew is not about child molesters or even cruelty. All of the characters are well-meaning people who on some level want things to work out for the best - it's just that people are so self-involved that their attention is never whole-hearted; the film portrays busy adults (a mother who is a rock star and a father who is an art dealer), always on the go, always involved in a thousand projects and a bunch of knotty relationships that needs to be managed. The kid in the movie, Maisie, never fires away deep lines about the malaise of childhood. Instead, she is like kids are, wide-eyed, confused, sad - and in scene after scene, we see her trying to please these obnoxious adults (OK there are also less hapless adults on display in the film). A sign of the quality of the film is that it lets things be unstated - as a matter of fact, it is the things that are never said, quiet disappointment, awkwardness that is never articulated, that really left this film in my consciousness for a long while afterwards. It is strange to say this but the poor kid is both an open book and a mystery - and I think this is the real strength of the film (it doesn't intrude). Some scenes are overly dramatized, but still: What Maisie knew captures a very ordinary side of human relations - that people try and there is hustle and bustle, but nobody really pays attention to the patterns of what is going on. Also: thumbs up for the acting in this movie. The film is based on a novel by Henry James (!); after having watched the film it would be interesting to read the novel that takes place in a very different cultural setting.