‘Presence’: A Ghost Story Done Differently

Presence director Steven Soderbergh has more than earned the right to experiment. He’s directed Oscar-winning favourites like Erin Brockovich, slick crime thrillers like the Ocean’s trilogy and even the Magic Mike trilogy. 

One of our most furiously busy directors, Soderbergh always seems to be behind the camera making something new and often experimenting. Presence is one of those experiments – a ghost story told entirely from the ghost’s perspective, it’s not a film that completely works. Nonetheless, its unique filmmaking approach to an overwrought type of supernatural story did often compel me. 

I should say, though: Presence is not a horror movie. It’s really a dark suburban drama with a supernatural element, following a family of four who move into a new house but are met with some kind of ghost. The gimmick of the film, though, is that the ghost is portrayed entirely by the camera as it travels throughout the house. 

Though I think not taken to its full potential, the first-person perspective of Presence is by far the most innovative and thrilling aspect of the film. Given the ghost is supposed to be invisible outside a few key moments, it imbues the film with a sense of voyeurism that makes the titular presence and viewer feel invasive upon this family’s life. I do kind of wish the film utilised more “supernatural” feeling movements of the camera, though.

Yet that feeling of invasiveness is undermined by the fact that, frankly, the family the film follows feel like movie characters before they do real people. This is partly due to Soderbergh’s direction feeling intrinsically opposed to the way the film is written as a drama, one that admittedly gets much darker in the second half. 

Presence doesn’t fully utilise its premise

Since Presence isn’t really a horror film, the voyeurism of the ghost’s perspective feels softened, especially when you find out its identity later in the film. I think Presence would be much stronger as a straight horror flick; ironic for a film that’s being marketed as such. 

Chris Sullivan probably gives the best performance as the fraying father of the family, feeling well and truly like a dad. Lucy Liu feels kind of underutilised here, and the film never really pulls the string on her character to give her any serious depth.

But the film most heavily rests on the shoulders of three young actors: Callina Liang, Eddy Maday and West Mulholland. Young and Maday play the sister and brother of the house, while Mulholland is a friend who becomes involved with the sister.

It brings me no pleasure to say that none of these performances did much for me. I appreciate Soderbergh’s willingness to cast young actors with very few credits to their names, but I think this is a really dicey project for even highly experienced actors to take on (as mentioned, Sullivan and Liu also seem challenged). Their lack of experience is made all the more apparent in a film with a style that inherently makes them feel highly exposed.

Still, that style decision is enough to carry Presence to some success as a stab at something new by an acclaimed director. You can expect a ghost story done differently from Steven Soderbergh with a fascinating stylistic approach, even if its overall results are mixed. 

★★½

Presence is in cinemas from February 6.