Director Steven Soderbergh succeeds at innovating and keeping the audience guessing with Presence.
Hitting theatres across Canada on Jan. 24, Presence, directed by Soderbergh and written by David Koepp, follows a family as they adjust to living in a new home, where over time, they begin to suspect there’s a paranormal entity among them. The film held its world premiere in early 2024 at the Sundance Film Festival with Variety reporting that some Sundance viewers walked out mid-screening, citing high stress.
Having watched the film at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, I completely understand why.
The film’s talented cast stars Callina Liang as Chloe, Eddy Maday as Tyler, Lucy Liu as Rebekah, and Chris Sullivan as Chris. While the film’s premise sounds like a standard ghost story we’ve all seen before, its presentation and the way the plot unfolds are far from generic. Throughout the opening scenes, the camera flies around the house and even reacts to the characters’ movements. When one character gets too close to the camera, it quickly jerks away and retreats into a different room.
It becomes unnervingly clear that the story is being told from a first-person perspective—the ghost’s point of view.
With this one choice, Soderbergh and Koepp enhance the story and deliver a truly unique experience. Sitting at a tight 85-minute runtime, Presence uses its unique presentation to the fullest potential, without overstaying its welcome. The film consists of a series of well-choreographed tracking shots that allow the actors to show their range.
However, more than a creative genre experiment, Presence impressed me by being a compelling family drama as well.
Based on what the ghost chooses to look at, and how it interferes with the family’s lives, the ghost—through the camera—becomes an important character in the film. The fly-on-the-wall perspective provides an interesting look at the family and the divisions between them.
We get to see the secrets they keep, their struggle to connect, how they act when they’re together, and when they think they’re alone. Their secrets range from acts of teenage rebellion to one of the characters sensing a close connection with the ghost.
The film creates an uneasy atmosphere as the paranormal encounters slowly escalate. The story unfolds in a way I didn’t expect, resulting in a shocking conclusion. The creepiest films I’ve watched all have had moments that stay in my head for a long time. In Presence, there’s a specific bone-chilling scream that I can’t unhear.
The tension of Presence is effective as the film takes the time to develop each character and their flaws. We get to see them live out their lives in uninterrupted, extended takes that last for minutes at a time, making them feel relatable. As a result, when the film puts the characters’ lives in danger, it’s more thrilling and memorable than any cheap jump scare could ever be. In short, good horror is good drama.
Presence is far from Soderbergh’s first experimental film. In 2013, he announced his retirement from filmmaking before returning in 2016, releasing nine feature films.
In between Soderbergh’s more commercial films, his post-retirement era is marked by a commitment to experiment and innovate. For example, Unsane (2018) and High Flying Bird (2019) were both shot using iPhones. His film Kimi (2022) serves as a high-tech riff on surveillance thrillers like Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954).
Presence is quite possibly Soderbergh’s most interesting experiment yet, and his commitment to innovate never comes at the expense of the story. Instead, the unique direction enhances an already engaging script.
I, for one, hope Soderbergh never stops experimenting.
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