This is an excellently acted and richly designed film. It is also, unfortunately, rather consistently tedious. Its best asset, beside the visual impact of the decaying and foreboding mansion where most of the action unfolds, is the lead performance by Domhnall Gleeson. As a country doctor who inserts himself into the daily lives of a dysfunctional aristocratic family, he rather bravely foregoes creating an accessible or sympathetic protagonist, instead portraying him as a social climber whose pinched and polite demeanor clearly obscures vast reserves of ambition, contempt, and jealousy. It is an unnerving piece of acting; Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley by way of Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day.

The film around him is capable, particularly on a technical level, but unsatisfying. Lenny Abrahamson, who previously directed Frank and Room (both excellent), seems afraid of the genre, as if staging a genuine jolt or building any discernible ghost-story momentum would be gauche. And the overarching metaphor regarding British class rigidity feels tidy and slight relative to the time and attention invested.