Michelle Pfeiffer: <i>What Lies Beneath</i>

Michelle Pfeiffer: What Lies Beneath

Revisiting—or in a few cases, watching for the first time—and celebrating the work of Michelle Pfeiffer, the best actress of my lifetime.

What Lies Beneath (2000) is not a slasher film. It's solid, if unspectacular, mainstream psychological horror. Still, a case can be made that its star Michelle Pfeiffer turns in an outstanding Final Girl performance.

As Claire Spencer, Pfeiffer spends much of the film hesitantly peering through windows, behind doors and down desolate roads, terrified of what she might find staring back at her. Her mind is running wild on her, in no small part due to her isolation—Claire's scientist husband (Harrison Ford) spends much of his time at the university lab, leaving her home in an expansive New England house, with only her growing sense of unease to keep her company.

Something's not right in her marriage, that's clear. This unrest in Claire manifests in a sneaking suspicion that the new neighbors are up to something, possibly something horrific. Only later will she discover that the horror isn't next door; it's inside the house.

In one anxiety-provoking scene that will scare you off baths for the rest of your life, Claire is unable to move (for reasons I won't reveal) while lying in a tub, which is quickly filling with water. Much of Pfeiffer's acting in the scene is done with her greatest asset—those richly expressive, all-knowing eyes. Here, they hauntingly convey Claire's escalating fear and dread as the water creeps upward, eventually reaching her chin, her mouth, her nose, and beyond.

Scenes like this, and other similarly tension-laden moments throughout the film, are surprisingly effective, due in large part to Pfeiffer's stunningly virtuoso performance. Pfeiffer has a history of turning in brilliant performances in films that don't measure up to her own excellence, leading critics to ignore certain films of hers when discussing her best work. This is one such example of an underrated piece of acting that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as some of Pfeiffer's other great performances.

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Paul SOctober 16, 2017 at 8:23 AM
I think What Lies Beneath is very underrated, and it contains one of my favourite Michelle Pfeiffer performances ever. The bathtub scene you feature is one of Pfeiffer's pfinest hours. Who else but Michelle could manage to convey tragic, bone-chilling desolation using only her eyes and a shivery release of breath. Incredible!
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Susan LeightonOctober 16, 2017 at 10:19 AM
This was a different role for her & Harrison Ford. Not a lot of people liked this film as I recall. The twists & turns were admirable. Wow. I still remember the ending to this day.
Good retro, Mike.
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