We are introduced to two main characters, Claire Spencer (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford), who play a happily, married couple, living together with Claire's teenage daughter, who is leaving to go to college. Both characters 'everyman' qualities are established throughout the film, with their everyday home, the typical husband and wife setting, Norman being a very successful and wealthy man, in a top position job and in turn providing for his family. Whilst the wife (Claire) is busy being a housewife, taking care of the domestic things, cleaning, cooking and gardening but in turn providing for her husband. The audience could easily identify with these characters due to their everyday, normal lives that are very realistic to actual life now.
The character played by Michelle Pfeiffer, is shown to have been given flaws at the beginning of the film. These flaws being the fact she doesn't work, which allowed her to have time to what seemed to be a reflection period on her past. The actual events of her past aren't shown to the audience clearly at this stage, but whatever has happened obviously had and still has a big affect on her. We know this because we are introduced to her flaws through her looking at old, boxed up photo's, when photo's that she wasn't expecting to see fall on the floor-providing her with a shock, that causes her to have what seems to be an anxiety/panic attack, due to the unknown meaning behind the images.
Throughout the film, many enigma's are created. For example, as the film starts the first few scenes create questions such as Claire's past. Why she gets so anxious when she looks at old pictures? What is she hiding? Another enigma created is involving Claire and Norman's suspicious neighbours, Why does their house looked like it isn't lived in? Why is there a shoe with a blood stain on on the porch? Why is the woman crying alone in the garden?
These are created due to the sound in the scenes, pictures we see and the suspicious actions that the neighbours portray. The information given to the audience create questions like, Are the neighbours involved in the strange actions going on in Norman and Claire's house? And is Claire hiding something that has happened in her past? As the narrative progresses the enigma's created don't really get answered fully, if anything the enigma's first created deepen and make the audience think they re true. Although the previous enigma's created do not get answered, as the narrative goes on, further enigma's are created, foe example, are the strange going's on to do with ghost's or have some spiritual relation?
As the film moves on, more suspense is created. This is by the diajetic sound used, the shots including many close-ups to create and show emotion and blocking out the setting, making it unclear to the audience what or who is in the scene. This suspense makes the audience think that the neighbours definitely have a part to play in whatever is occurring in their house, which leads them to believe that the man living next door has killed his wife and is plotting to kill Claire too. This assumption is made due to the clues and hints given, for example the continuous suspicion created around the neighbours behaviour linked with the weird behaviour things that are going on in Claire and Norman's house.
What the audience think is going to happen doesn't actually happen, in fact what the audience were made to believe was going to happen doesn't even come into what actually does. That being that the neighbours have nothing to do with the odd things going on in the house, instead Norman is the reason for all the scary things his wife Claire has been experiencing. It is all due to him having had an affair many years ago with a girl he used to teach at a university, who had been the missing persons list for years after Norman had taught her. We later learn that Norman actually murdered Madison (Student Norman taught) by pushing her car into the lake with her trapped inside. So it had been Norman's dangerous past that had been haunting Claire all this time.
When the audience realise what is behind the stranger antics happening, it leads to further suspense, asking questions like Why was the student never mentioned to Claire? Why did Norman kill her? As the film comes to an end, we learn more about Norman and his capabilities. For instance we learn that Norman doesn't stop at just having killed Madison, he also tries to kill his own wife too due to Claire knowing through her extensive searching for the answers that ieMadison isn't missing, but is actually dead and was killed by her very own husband. This information is revealed to the audience at the same time that it is revealed to the actors, so we are seeing the action unfold through the character's eyes, as if we are the ones experiencing it.
The main theme in 'What lies beneath' is seen as an investigation. Where by the hero must uncover a series of enigmas to establish the truth. So for instance Claire had to carry out he own, private research on the 'missing' girl in order to work out the reasons why and who was really behind the strange going;s on in her home. Also another theme evident in this film is that the hero discovers a secret that puts her in danger, the secret being the affair that Norman once had with a student and the murder he also committed. Both of these themes aren't explored fully until the end, where both are made clear to the audience. When we discover the secret, and the answers to many of the enigma's are answered in order to discover the real truth.
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