The low ratings of the movie probably stem from its ambiguity. It actually illustrates how Kate descends into madness; hence the title. This is alluded to in the beginning when the eye of an older woman reliving the attack of the previous nanny is cut into the eye of Kate, portrayed by Mackenzie Davis, suggesting that they are the same person. The flashback opens with Kurt Cobain's suicide, which occurred in 1994, chronicling young Kate. The scene depicting Kate escaping with the children is imagined, and what truly occurred was the scene shown in the succeeding flashback where the children note that Kate is crazy when she asks them if they've seen ghosts. In the last scene, Kate is horrified when she realizes that it is she who is being held in the asylum, and not her mother. When paused, the figure Kate is frightened by in the pool is simply the woman portrayed by Joely Richardson, her older self in present day. This explains the drawings on the pool wall, of Kate recollecting her horrible experience at the mansion.
It is an intriguing psychological, rather than a horror, movie with a twist, worth the watch.
Review of The Turning
