Relic
Director: Natalie Erika James

We are all of us haunted houses, suggests Relic, the emotionally charged debut feature of Japanese-Australian writer-director Natalie Erika James.

When eightysomething Edna (Robyn Nevin), who lives alone in the inherited family home outside Melbourne, goes missing, her daughter, Kay (Emily Mortimer), and Kay’s grown-up daughter, Sam (Bella Heathcote), arrive to help in the search. The cluttered house holds clues to Edna’s deteriorating mental state: she’s left a strange mix of reminder notes – “Turn off the tap”, “My mother had green eyes” and “Don’t follow it”. There are new bolts on the doors, and a bowl of rotting fruit signposts her inevitable decay. After a few days she mysteriously reappears. Her only explanation is: “I suppose I went out.”

Edna’s house, set among tall woods, is crammed with paintings and books. There are comfortable armchairs and a well-appointed dining table. A spare room contains old clothes, photograph albums and boxes of the usual family detritus. Outside, the tennis court and swimming pool have gone to seed. Relic soon makes clear that the house itself is the threat.