The Quiet (2006)

Jamie Babbitt (GILMORE GIRLS) makes his feature debut with this suburban melodrama tinged with the trappings of exploitation films and Gothic horror. Dot (Camilla Belle, THE CHUMSCRUBBER) is a deaf and mute girl with a troubled past: her mother died when she was seven, and now her deaf father has been run over by a truck. Things get much worse for Dot, however, when she moves in with the Deer family, who make no attempt to hide their dark secrets from her. Patriarch Paul Deer (Martin Donovan) is having an incestuous relationship with his cheerleader daughter, Nina (Elisha Cuthbert, LOVE, ACTUALLY), who spends much of her time lashing out at the new addition to the family. Mother Olivia remains oblivious, shrouded in a haze of pills. Slowly, the two girls come to a tenuous understanding with one another, united in the secrets they share. The shocking conclusion is unexpectedly lurid given the quietness of the film's first half, and the two actresses carry the material beautifully. The coldly lit interior of the family home, which is undergoing renovations, ,creates an utterly creepy backdrop and sets the mood for this tone poem of suburban distress.