separation movie review 2021

William Brent Bell 's "Separation" is an atrocious piece of work, a movie that fails as both a domestic drama and as a horror flick, and really feels like the kind of thing that everyone involved is going to have to discuss in therapy someday to get to the bottom of why it was even made in the first place. And it's a viciously misogynistic film that feels like the result of a drunk guy at a bar wondering if his ex-wife is so cruel that she would haunt him from beyond the grave. Critics in the ‘20s are often accused of putting political or social agendas into films that don't really merit such a reading, but the two main female characters in "Separation" are so poorly, cruelly defined purely in context of the male lead that it's almost like the movie is challenging people not to notice (especially when you add in that the only supportive characters are male colleagues to the protagonist). Even if you don't think it's a grossly sexist film, there's no denying it's a shallow one that's also almost defiantly light on scares, and one that ends with a twist that's somehow both depressingly easy to see coming and totally ludicrous. Although that's kind of the modus operandi for the director of " Brahms: The Boy II " and "The Devil Inside." And this might be his worst movie.

The first act of "Separation" plays out like a relatively straightforward domestic drama wherein Maggie Vahn ( Mamie Gummer ) decides that she's had enough of her slacker artist husband Jeff ( Rupert Friend ). In a series of scenes that make it clear that at least someone involved in the production of this film had an ugly divorce, Maggie becomes an evil caricature, yelling at her wide-eyed husband, a guy who may have spent a bit too long nurturing an artistic dream that doesn't feed the family but one that we're clearly supposed to like. And, of course, Maggie doesn't just file for divorce, she petitions for full custody of their daughter Jenny ( Violet McGraw ) mostly because she's cruel, and she gets the backing of her rich father Paul ( Brian Cox , who almost looks like he knows he's above this whole affair). As Maggie is tearing Jeff down again on the phone, she walks into an intersection and gets demolished by a speeding car. The final words of this vicious woman are "Because she is mine ."

Almost immediately, strange things start to happen around Jeff and Jenny that make it clear that Maggie's final words extend into the afterlife. Again, the basic starting ground for this movie is "What if my ex-wife kept trying to ruin my life after she died?" Jenny and Jeff starts seeing puppet-like creatures inspired by Jeff's art for something called the Grizzly Kin (think early Tim Burton drawings). Bell can't stop himself from cheap horror tricks like jump scares and even an actual double dream sequence, which I'm pretty sure was outlawed in 2003. Worst of all, the scares in "Separation," other than the possible exception of the first time Jeff sees a crab-walking puppet man (although he barely responds), aren't scary. It doesn't even have the surreal funhouse aesthetic that this project needed from inception.

In part, that's because it's barely trying. At the 50-minute mark, there's been essentially one scare scene, and a ton of dull domestic drama. I almost started to long for the kookiness of " The Boy " movies just to break the tedium. And then there's a panic attack sequence during a park puppet show that's also the stunningly incompetent centerpiece of the entire film. A red palette washes the screen as a bubble pops in slow-motion and it's like a parody of a bad horror movie. If the word "PUPPETS!" flashed across the screen, it wouldn't be out of place. Although I worry that I'm making this all sound more fun than it actually is. It's really not. It's stultifying in its dullness.

Solid actors on "Homeland" and "Succession," respectively, Friend and Cox get lost in the poor writing and filmmaking here. The latter is a mere plot device and sticks around just to be a part of the final-act stupidity. The former was under-directed so much so that even he looks bored at times. There are no believable characters, no rising tension, and no scares in this " Insidious " meets " Kramer vs. Kramer ." Just so many questions as to how it happened.

In theaters today .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

• Rupert Friend as Jeff
• Madeline Brewer as Samantha
• Violet McGraw as Jenny
• Mamie Gummer as Maggie
• Brian Cox as Rivers
• Troy James as Nerezza
• Simon Quarterman as Alan
• Brett Detar
• Brian Berdan
• Nick Amadeus

Cinematographer

• Karl Walter Lindenlaub
• William Brent Bell

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Had Low Expectations...

• AmericasFan
• Jul 26, 2021
• Draysan-Jennings
• Jul 2, 2021

Not a bad take on the trauma of divorce and death on kids

• myignisrules
• May 5, 2021

Part family melodrama part supernatural horror, doesn't quite come together but does have some decent performances and craft.

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• Oct 23, 2021

Not THAT bad

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• Aug 27, 2021

Don't waste your time.

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Mean mom, muffin dad, no plot, twist comes out of no where.

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Interesting Premise, but Falls a bit Short of the Mark

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Cool Contortionist Clown. Not Much Else

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See-through but still good

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An Ok Horror

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These actors, this creative team, those CGI people... They all should know better

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Lazy writing and directing

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So incredibly not what I thought...

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• Jun 8, 2021

Just Throw Away Both Parents

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Not bad, but could have been better

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It was ok not theater worthy, some ok effects, decent acting, mediocre story

Worst babysitter ever.

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• Jun 30, 2021

Trailer was better than the movie

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Draw me the stuff of nightmares

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You've got you're single dad drama in my wannabe James Wan horror movie

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• Jul 7, 2021

Had a flashback to Momma in Kramer Vs. Kramer

• Oct 24, 2021

Recycled ideas, waste of time.

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Separation Reviews

The characters are flat, the themes shallow, and the emotional catharsis is stilted in every scene.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Jun 5, 2022

'Separation' is a good movie ... to stay away from.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 8, 2021

The only separation that exists here is the vast one between good and bad filmmaking, and Separation falls decidedly on the side of the latter.

Full Review | Jun 6, 2021

Separation could have either gone for a nuanced family drama that happened to have ghosts or it could've been an over the top haunted house film with a plethora of unique ghouls and wild twist, but instead it shoots for the middle.

Full Review | May 12, 2021

Promising horror pic that can't deliver the goods.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | May 7, 2021

Suffers from a senseless storyline and a set of unlikable characters with no redeeming qualities. The special effects are quite menacing but wasted as the film fails to connect with the audience.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 7, 2021

Bell has the unfortunate ability to set the stage for a decent horror story without ever really following through.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 5, 2021

This is not just a bad horror movie, it is a bad movie overall. Everyone involved her deserved better than this and so do you. Steer clear.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/10 | May 4, 2021

Unfortunately, this first narrative features from scribes Nick Amadeus and Josh Braun gluts itself on phantom red herrings atop the shoulders of a formidably insipid protagonist in Rupert Friend.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | May 3, 2021

A pale pastiche of better movies, Separation might not be good, but its marionette mayhem emerges as curiously entertaining.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 3, 2021

The basic nature of Separation's supernatural evil isn't even clear in one seriously confused movie.

Full Review | May 3, 2021

Bell knows how to pull dread out of the air, and he orchestrates the oppressive atmosphere and the periodic scares with masterful precision.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 1, 2021

It balances the typical ghost story plot with enough reality that people do face.

A solid cast and some stylish visual flourishes can't save a film that jettisons its more high-minded ambitions for some formulaic child-in-peril nonsense.

Full Review | May 1, 2021

This "imaginary friend" horror movie takes its time and tries hard to focus on relationships and emotions, but the characters still feel somehow stiff and flat, as if they were only half-finished.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 1, 2021

There's only one proper way to settle with the film: split from it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Apr 30, 2021

There are no believable characters, no rising tension, and no scares in this Insidious meets Kramer vs. Kramer.

Full Review | Original Score: 0/4 | Apr 30, 2021

Thanks to computer imagery that betrays its digital origins, the things that go bump in the night are more irritating than frightening.

Full Review | Original Score: 74/100 | Apr 30, 2021

[A] dull and misogynistic affair that imagines multiple types of women as malevolent fiends who terrorize supposedly sympathetic men.

Full Review | Apr 30, 2021

A lazy rehash of cliches that has been assembled in such a haphazard and disinterested manner that it suggests nothing but contempt for anyone foolish enough to actually spend a few bucks and two precious hours on it.

Full Review | Apr 29, 2021

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‘separation’: film review.

Rupert Friend, Brian Cox, Madeline Brewer and Mamie Gummer star in William Brent Bell's horror film about a little girl whose demonic puppets seem to come to life.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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A muddled execution undercuts laudable ambitions in the latest effort from director William Brent Bell, who previously demonstrated his talent for turning low-budget horror films into major commercial hits with such movies as The Devil Inside and The Boy . The filmmaker mines deeper emotional terrain than usual with Separation , which attempts to inject scares into a Kramer vs. Kramer -inspired scenario. But the film squanders its intriguing setup and terrific performances by devolving into familiar genre tropes. Not that it will prevent horror-starved audiences from flocking to see it on the big screen thanks to the further lifting of pandemic restrictions.

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The story revolves around Jenny (Violet McGraw), the 8-year-old child at the center of a bitter custody battle between her divorcing parents, high-powered lawyer Maggie (Mamie Gummer, playing a variation of the role her mother, Meryl Streep, had in Kramer ) and underachieving graphic artist Jeff (Rupert Friend). The emotionally scarred little girl takes solace by playing with a lavish assemblage of horrific puppets dubbed the “Grisly Kin,” inspired by her father’s creations.

Release date: Apr 30, 2021

Just as Maggie threatens her husband with moving across the country and taking Jenny with her, she’s killed by a hit-and-run driver on a Brooklyn street (the scene is filmed for maximum visceral shock). But that’s only the start of the nightmarish scenario facing Jeff. He begins to experience hellish, red-bathed visions featuring life-size versions of his puppet figures, while Jenny seems to be communicating with a demonic figure who might be the ghost of her mother. Other characters figuring in the proceedings are his wealthy, deeply antagonistic father-in-law (Brian Cox, Succession ), who’s suing him for custody of Jenny, and loyal babysitter Samantha (Madeline Brewer, The Handmaid’s Tale ), who evidences more than a professional interest in her employer.

Separation ultimately proves more interesting as a dark, character-driven family drama than with its predictable jump scares (effectively abetted by Craig Mann’s disturbing sound design). The horror sequences offer nothing we haven’t seen before, including the eerie, bone-cracking appearance by contortionist Troy James, embodying one of Jeff’s more monstrous puppet characters and performing a backward walk on all fours that recalls the infamous “spider walk” scene originally cut from The Exorcist .

The spooky mayhem is certainly well rendered, but it doesn’t have nearly as much impact as Friend’s terrific turn as the beleaguered father. Delivering a performance miles removed from his macho CIA agent in Homeland , the actor movingly conveys Jeff’s emotional fragility in a way that makes us fully invested in the character’s desperate efforts to keep his daughter. Child actress McGraw, used to this sort of harrowing material thanks to her work in Doctor Sleep and The Haunting of Hill House , handles her demanding chores in ultraprofessional fashion, and Brewer and Cox offer solid support, although the latter’s role is the kind he can do in his sleep.

The screenplay by Nick Amadeus and Josh Braun stumbles when it resorts to such desperate devices as having the vulnerable little girl nearly dying after eating food containing peanuts. (Soon, we’re bound to see a horror film entitled “Allergy Attack.”) And the murder mystery underlying the central storyline might have been more effective if there weren’t so few and such obvious suspects.

Karl Walter Lindenlaub’s lensing of extensive Brooklyn locations provides the proper spooky atmosphere (audience members will certainly look twice crossing the street on the way home), and Brett Detar’s score delivers further jolts. But you know there’s something off about a horror film when you look forward more to the quiet dramatic scenes than the appearances of the creatures that provide its raison d’etre.

Distributor: Open Road Films, Briarcliff Entertainment Production companies: Yale Productions, RainMaker Films, The Machine Room, Post Film Cast: Rupert Friend, Brian Cox, Madeline Brewer, Mamie Gummer, Violet McGraw, Troy James Director: William Brent Bell Screenwriters: Nick Amadeus, Josh Braun Producers: Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman, Russ Posternak, Jesse Korman, Clay Pecorin, William Brent Bell Executive producers: Russell Geyser, Jane Oster Sinisi, Seth Posternak, Dennis Rice Director of photography: Karl Walter Lindlaub Production designer: Ola Maslik Editor: Brian Berdan Composer: Brett Detar Costume designer: Gina Ruiz Casting: Judy Bowman, Brandon Henry Rodriguez

Rated R, 107 minutes

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‘Separation’ Review: A Scattershot and Oft-Misogynistic Thriller

A widower and his daughter are haunted by an evil maternal spirit in director William Brent Bell’s clunky horror movie.

By Nick Schager

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Arriving on the heels of his “The Boy” and “Brahms: The Boy II,” William Brent Bell ’s “Separation” reconfirms the director’s belief that nothing is scarier than creepy killer dolls. His latest, alas, fails to successfully prove that case, and worse, its story about a recently widowed single father struggling with supernatural phenomena is a dull and misogynistic affair that imagines multiple types of women as malevolent fiends who terrorize supposedly sympathetic men. The outlook is dim for this fright-free thriller when it debuts in theaters on April 30.

Jeff (Rupert Friend) is a cartoonist whose former hit, The Grisly Kin, is now firmly in the rearview mirror, even if he refuses to accept that and clings to his artistic integrity like a crutch while his wife (and former creative partner) Maggie ( Mamie Gummer ) assumes responsibility for financially supporting them and their daughter Jenny (Violet McGraw). Given Jeff’s deadbeat narcissism — as well as his too-close-for-comfort relationship with doting nanny Samantha (Madeline Brewer) — Maggie naturally decides to leave Jeff and file for sole custody of Jenny, all with the backing of her father Paul ( Brian Cox ). That plan is not to be, however, since before she can abscond to Seattle with Jenny, Maggie is run over in a fatal hit-and-run, thus leaving the kid in Jeff’s care, much to Paul’s chagrin.

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Although Jeff is everything he’s accused of being, “Separation” paints Maggie as a nasty harpy, and after she’s dead, she returns as a literal monster: a towering specter in a black wedding dress and veil whose face and hands are those of a puppet, not unlike the creepy Grisly Kin marionette dolls that Jenny bafflingly adores. Maggie strikes a reasonably unnerving pose, but her habit of appearing, and then disappearing, without doing anything makes her far from terrifying. Not helping matters is jarring, helter-skelter editing (from Brian Berdan and Eric L. Beason) that causes the film to segue from scene to scene with minimal tonal coherence. Ordinary daytime scenes, fantastical nighttime encounters, and nightmarish dreams (and dreams within dreams) materialize at random, thereby generating more confusion than tension.

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Nick Amadeus and Josh Braun’s script is awash in clichéd contrivances, such that Jeff conveniently runs into a former acquaintance (Eric T. Miller) who just so happens to be a comics mogul, gets a job working for his pal, and then stumbles into a gig doing art for a writer (Simon Quarterman) whose new series is about “darkness” — and thus the perfect vehicle for Jeff’s sketches of the bogeywoman he sees around his brownstone. Quarterman’s author is also a fount of handy exposition about the afterlife and angry spirits, which allows the film to clue audiences into the fact that Maggie is a vengeful demon trapped in purgatory because she just can’t stand to let Jenny go — and, more specifically, to give her over to Jeff. As far as unflattering portraits of protective mothers go, this is rather ugly, and eventual revelations about Maggie’s death only exacerbate the proceedings’ noxious representation of women, which is contrasted by its compassionate attitude toward the selfish and parentally incompetent Jeff.

Despite having characters incessantly explain key plot points, “Separation” lacks basic logic. For example, if it’s Maggie who’s tormenting everyone, why does one of Jeff’s other fictional characters repeatedly come to back-breaking life (in a manner derivative of “The Exorcist”)? It also lacks formal polish, with red-drenched CGI sequences of New York City streets and swaying trees looking as chintzy and graceless as they are nonsensical.

The cast has nothing to work with here, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that every one of their reactions — especially from an unconvincing Friend — seem only half as freaked-out as the circumstances warrant, further contributing to the sense that no one knows quite what’s going on. Cox, at least, comprehends the nature of this work-for-hire gig, dispensing one-note bluster in the same nice suits, and with the same neatly trimmed goatee, that define his more acclaimed domineering Manhattan paterfamilias: Logan Roy on “ Succession .”

Reviewed online, Stamford, Conn., April 28, 2021. Rated R. Running time: 107 MIN.

• Production: An Open Road Films, Briarcliff Entertainment release of a Rainmaker Films, Yale Prods., The Machine Room production, in association with Post Film. Producers: William Brent Bell, Clay Pecorin, Jesse Korman, Russ Posternak, Jordan Beckerman, Jordan Yale Levine. Executive producers: James Masciello, Matthew Sidari, Tom Ortenberg, Rupert Friend, Jane Oster Sinisi, Seth Posternak, Russell Geyser, Nick Amadeus, Josh Braun. Co-producer: Jon Keeyes.
• Crew: Director: William Brent Bell. Screenplay: Nick Amadeus, Josh Braun. Camera: Karl Walter Lindenlaub, Rik Zang. Editors: Brian Berdan, Eric L. Beason. Music: Brett Detar.
• With: Rupert Friend, Brian Cox, Madeline Brewer, Mamie Gummer, Violet McGraw, Eric T. Miller, Simon Quarterman.

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Movie Review – Separation (2021)

April 29, 2021 by Robert Kojder

Separation , 2021.

Directed by William Brent Bell. Starring Rupert Friend, Madeleine Brewer, Brian Cox, Violet McGraw, Troy James, Simon Quarterman, and Mamie Gummer.

A young girl finds solace in her artist father and the ghost of her dead mother.

In a verbally explosive argument during 2019’s Marriage Story that has been memed to death, Adam Driver lost all cool and told his wife, played by Scarlett Johansson, that he wished she would get hit by a car. Cue William Brent Bell’s Separation (the director has been a regular on the horror scene as of late with his The Boy series and infamous stinker The Devil Inside, which told viewers to go to a website for the ending) where the custody battle is cut short by a hit-and-run on the mother.

In the context of a fright feature, the filmmakers can establish some intriguing dynamics with that setup. And for the first 30 or so minutes, Separation does appear to be working and focused on the grieving characters. However, the script from debut feature writers Nick Amadeus and Josh Braun seems to be more concerned with building to a so telegraphed twist; it would be a spoiler to describe certain characters in greater detail. You will be questioning yourself if it’s really that obvious, and yes, it’s really that obvious.

Nevertheless, Rupert Friend is Jeff, an unemployed graphic novel artist specializing in all things spooky, that has created a cast of creepy-looking puppets dubbed The Grisly Kin. Furthermore, they are such a staple of his own life that they have become ‘friends’ with his daughter Jenny (Violet McGraw). Although he’s not working (and this is one of the more confounding parts of the plot set up), Jenny does have a babysitter named Samantha (Madeline Brewer), who consistently encourages Jeff to get back into the art world. Then there’s the household’s matriarch, Maggie (Mamie Gummer), who disapproves of Jeff’s meandering lifestyle and never gets to see Jenny because she’s always working late into the night.

The verbal arguments become more frequent, leading to a custody battle in court with Maggie’s father, Rivers (Brian Cox), offering support. That is until the aforementioned hit-and-run occurs. Naturally, this changes everything around the home. Jenny is now speaking like a baby sometimes, there’s a ghost setting family portrait paintings on fire tarnishing Jeff’s face, and opportunity arises as, now a single parent, Jeff swallows his pride and takes on an inking job. Jenny also appears to be communicating with whatever supernatural force is present whereas the puppets also have come to life.

This is not really a spoiler, given that someone has to be going out of their way not to pay attention, but the ghost is Maggie. Exploring a spirit conflicted and existing between the two realms wanting to care for her daughter while simultaneously severely agitated at the circumstances of her death is a solid characterization to ensure both warmth and terror. Meanwhile, Rivers is a cartoonish villain picking up where his daughter left off, now trying to get custody for himself and suspicious that Jeff had something to do with her death. There is also a separate entity with no connection to anything going on, presumably serving as sequel bait if the ending credits are anything to go off of. In itself, it’s a bold move to show such confidence that any of this material is deserving of a follow-up.

Anyway, Jeff goes through the usual ghost story emotions; he Googles things on the Internet about spirits, he’s unbelievably ignorant to the fact that his wife is communicating with his daughter from the afterlife (he even watches some of these interactions from the monitor), and never once raises an eyebrow once it becomes clear who murdered his wife. Let’s say it’s also regressively hysterical work that I have no idea why some performers would even sign on to other than for a paycheck. It’s also never once scary, meaning Separation fails at both scares and drama.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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