Alicia Silverstone – Silence Becomes You – 2005
Directed by
Stephanie Sinclaire,
Produced by
Karl Richards,
Kayla Hefferon,
Nigel Wooll
Written by Stephanie Sinclaire
Starring Alicia Silverstone,
Sienna Guillory,
Joe Anderson
Music by
David Schweitzer
Cinematography
Arturo Smith
Edited by
Toby Yates
Distributed by
First Look Home Entertainment
Release dates
December 12,
2005
Running time 88 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget US$6,
000,000
The film tells the tale of two sisters,
Violet and
Grace, who live a sheltered life within a secluded
New England mansion, inherited from their parents. It is heavily implied that their father abused them during their childhood throughout the film, believing that they were "gifted" and home-schooling them whilst practically forcing them to complete recreational activities, such as painting and playing musical instruments, and hurting them either physically or mentally if he was not pleased with their effort. Because of their gloomy childhood, the two sisters have formed a strong bond and are incredibly close, however have also lost touch with reality and often come up with "evil" schemes together, their most recent being to lure a young traveller, whom Violet encounters in a bar, into their home and seduce him. It is never revealed why they have chosen to do this, however it is suggested that the sisters, especially Grace, want a baby to raise together.
Violet catches the eye of the traveller whilst he is with another woman in the bar, and openly flirts with him by dancing gracefully.
Enchanted, he abandons his date and leaves with Violet, already drunk. The two return to the mansion, where Violet and Grace flirt with him briefly before dragging him upstairs to the spare bedroom, where he collapses. The next morning, the trio have breakfast together, where the traveller introduces himself as
Luke, and the sisters invite him to stay for a few days. He agrees, clearly having taken a liking to Violet. That evening, he invites her for a drive and the two leave Grace on her own for several hours. While out, Luke proposes that they run away together, but Violet laughs this off, claiming he barely knows her and they wouldn't be able to manage with little money. Violet admits that she wants Luke to fall in love with her, but he claims he "doesn't do love".
Despite this, the two share their first kiss on the way back. The two return home to find Grace sulking, who claims that Violet is "breaking the rules".
Eventually cheering up, the sisters suggest that they play "the alpha game", an activity in which they attempt to connect with Luke mentally after they count him down into the "alpha state". Whilst under, Luke experiences visions of the girls' father and becomes disturbed by this, accidentally strangling Grace after waking up. The next morning, Grace tells Violet that she wants him gone, but she refuses.
Luke continues to push Violet to leave with him, but she cannot bring herself to even consider leaving
Grace. Later, the two of them slip away while Grace demonstrates her archery skills and make love for the first time. They begin an intimate relationship, much to the distress of Grace, whose flashbacks become increasingly surreal and intense, a notable one being of her suddenly setting fire to a box of matches without touching them after her father had been trying to get her to move a flame in the same manner, and she begins to lose her mind. Luke begins experiencing visions of the girls' father as well, and decides to leave the mansion alone after Violet refuses to come with him. Grace attempts to reconnect with her sister, but Violet becomes depressed after realising she loved him.
Meanwhile, Luke encounters his girlfriend from the beginning of the film and they briefly reconcile, however he realises afterwards that he is in love with Violet, and decides to return to the mansion. Despite Violet's happiness, Grace grows incredibly jealous and begins cutting herself at night.