​REVIEW

Review
Repression largely reminds me of the narrative developed within The Sixth Sense. Just like in that movie we have a new therapist, in this case, Marianne Winter (Thekla Reuten) examines the case of her acquired patient, Manny (Elijah Wolf.) it is an intense relationship that will reveal much darker connotations later in the movie. A narrative that delves into the recesses of a damaged psyche. A child in his formative years that has been inevitably damaged through no fault of his own.  A story so cerebral that will leave you scratching your head when it’s all said and done.


The opening scene of Dr. McVittie (Peter Mullan) in psychological distress is the shock moment, a fisherman reeling the viewer in. Why would the character do this to himself? What’s lurking within the halls of the hospital to have a psychiatrist trying to kill himself? Is it a case of one too many patients and like a mirror effect, he too becomes too ill to fight the demons crawling for dominance within him?

From there on we cut to Dr. Marianne Winters arriving in Scotland to settle into her new life. The scenes are what you come to expect from horror movies set in Scotland. It’s atmospheric, with its moody dark tones being at the forefront of the cinematography. It’s a big change for Marianne, leaving America for Scotland after the death of her husband in a devastating car accident, it could be the change she needs to leave it all behind. What if though, it’s a bigger nightmare than the one she left behind.
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Meeting her young patients gives her a sense of calm, if she can help them with their troubles then it would make the move a successful one. She meets a new patient, Manny. He’s an enigma certainly, but he puts her on edge. He knows things he shouldn’t, knows about a gun in her desk drawer, his drawings seeming to depict the future. She struggles to make sense of what he knows and how he knows it. They both struggle for control, the boy becoming more malevolent the more sessions they have together.