The Ones Below — Dramatic psychological thriller about love and loss

David Farr’s The Ones Below examines a couple’s coping with love and loss. We all grieve differently, but some people make it deadly!

Not everyone wants kids, but those who do can become obsessed with it, building their lives and expectations as a couple around it. The Ones Below looks at two couples, both expecting their own first child. There’s Kate (Clémence Poésy) and Justin (Stephen Campbell Moore), who decided to have a baby a decade into their relationship. Then there’s the new downstairs neighbors (the ones below), Jon (David Morrissey) and Theresa (Laura Birn).

When a tragic and stupid accident ends Theresa’s pregnancy, her and Jon irrationally blame Kate and Justin for their misfortune. Things appear to escalate when Theresa says Kate doesn’t deserve “that thing” inside of her! Seemingly realizing their faults, Jon and Theresa decide to move out, leaving a note stating they’ll return when they can be happy for the other couple.

Where do you go from there?

The Ones Below is not the scariest movie — or at least wouldn’t be for someone who’s never wanted or had children. However, if you’ve been there and done that, you may very well find unique reasons to be unsettled by this one. As always, David Morrissey kind of dominates the scenes he’s in, but both Poésy and Laura Birn are memorable in their own right. Really, though, the big star of The Ones Below is the missing child, who functions almost like a missing puzzle piece to the mystery of one couple’s life.

The idea that a stupid accident could totally destroy someone is powerful, next level stuff, and these things do happen. This makes the story a bit unnerving, especially as we’ve all heard stories of tragic mistakes resulting in death. We also know some people who are unreasonable — who blame others for things they technically had nothing to do with.

How do you deal with the unreasonable, or the insanely obsessed? The plausibility makes this film a bit creepier, and the fact that one could easily understand the grieving couple’s mentality.

In that regard, make no mistake about it: This is not a very comedic movie. In fact, in some ways this film’s less humorous than Lars von Trier’s controversial Antichrist (which we’ve also reviewed). That being said, it somehow isn’t a depressing film overall.

It’s right there on the edge of becoming one, but there’s enough hidden cleverness in the story to keep the average viewer from being too saddened. In other words, you could very well enjoy “The Ones Below.” Just know what to expect when you’re expecting.

What are your thoughts on The Ones Below? Let us know in the comments!