A Long-Awaited Movie Arrives

I am a big fan of the late Shirley Jackson. I discovered her writing on my own in my early college years. After reading her infamous short story The Lottery, I went on to explore her novels and was particularly taken by her last novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

Like much of Jackson’s writing, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a bit strange. It involves the surviving members of a wealthy family living in a large estate in a small town. The story is told from the point of view of 18-year-old Mary Katherine Blackwood, Merricat, who lives with her older sister Constance and uncle Julian. Other members of the family were killed by ingesting arsenic-laced sugar six years earlier, an incident for which Constance was tried and acquited. As a result, Constance refuses to leave the grounds, and Merricat is responsible for obtaining groceries and library books from the town. (Uncle Julian is confined to a wheelchair.) Townsfolk were apparently hostile to the Blackwood family even before the poisoning, an attitude intensified by the perception that Constance got away with murder. Merricat is also responsible, in her mind, at least, for protecting the family through magic. The girl is odd. In fact, all three inhabitants of the Blackwood “castle” are odd, perhaps downright crazy.

Into this peculiar family, comes, unbidden, Cousin Charles, whose motives Merricat rightly suspects. Lest I fully reveal the plot, suffice it to say that Charles ultimately brings tragedy to the family, which, reduced by the death of Uncle Julian, is determined, at the end of the novel, to carry on.

Ever since I read and reread the Jackson novel, I have wished for it to be turned into a movie. About a decade ago, there was an announcement that this was actually going to happen. Year after year, hints of progress surfaced, but no film appeared. It seemed unlikely that the novel would become a blockbuster movie, but I wanted to see the cinematic product even if it turned out to be a bad film. Finally, nearly ago, We Have Always Lived in the Castle became an actual movie. For months, however, I searched in vain for it. It was unlikely that it would show up in the local theater. It was not on Netflix; it was not on Amazon; it was not on television. I kept looking, and I recently found it in a Red Box kiosk. It was checked out from the kiosk where I first saw it, but I was able to obtain the DVD from another Red Box dispenser a few days later.

The wait was worth it. The movie, though not perfect—it contains a few stupid missteps—is wonderful. It captures and intensifies the weirdness of Jackson’s novel without deviating from its bizarre story. (You can find details about the movie on Wikipedia, but, if you have yet to read the book or see the movie, skip the plot summary.) Ironically, I just learned that We Have Always Lived in the Castle will be available on Netflix on September 14, nearly a year after its premiere at the LA Film Festival. I will watch it again and recommend it to you as well.