Fragile

FRAGILE

A 2005 film that was only recently released on DVD in the USA, Fragile follows a night nurse named Amy in a hospital that’s on the verge of being shut down.  Most of the patients have been transferred to another facility, and only a few children remain.  When unexplained ghostly happenings occur, Amy grows to believe that the hospital is haunted.  Some of the kids report seeing a “mechanical girl” named Charlotte.  Amy gradually pieces together information about the hospital’s history (and the mysterious long-shut-down second floor) that seems to reveal who the ghost could be and what she wants.  There’s a twist surprise I won’t spoil here about the nature of the haunting.  The film ends on a mildly depressing note.

Fragile has decent atmosphere and a couple of good frightening scenes, but the protagonist is a generic and forgettable character who stumbles upon fountains of exposition at just the right moments to keep the plot moving forward.  If you’re in the mood for an original ghost tale, Fragile will pass the time but won’t necessarily stun you with brilliant storytelling.