The wealth of glowing reviews for this film fooled me into thinking I'd see an innovative work of art. Several positive reviews talk about the hidden messages, the deep symbolism, or the metaphor that detractors just didn't understand. But this film's allegory is so heavy-handed and obvious, as soon as the real story begins, you'll know exactly what the director is trying to shove down your throat, and the rest of the film is little more than a series of boring reiterations of that same ridiculously obvious idea. Furthermore, the story, like its protagonist, never changes. The film could end after she first discovers the wall, because nothing of significance changes after that. Sure, she moves to a different cabin, her dog dies (apparently three different times), and she has a visitor (which offers even more of an allegorical cliché than anything that comes before it), but it's all just shades of the same grey color scheme this story is painted with. Perhaps the book is better, and perhaps if I was living in the pre-feminist, pre-deconstructionist 1960s, I might find the ideas and the story fascinating, but I've heard all of this far too many times before by now, and in much more insightful and interesting forms. The stars I give it are for the lead actor's performance (she was wonderful) and the cinematography (it was beautiful). Everything else worked against this film.
