“Smile” (2022) is Parker Finn’s feature film debut. It was originally going to be released exclusively through streaming, but when the film tested well with audiences, studios switched to exclusively theatrical release. Finn’s feature expands on the story that Finn introduced in his short “Laura Hasn’t Slept” (2020), which I have not seen yet and no longer appears to be available online. (If you can find it, please send me a link.) Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts to fall apart after witnessing a violent and unsettling suicide. Did it trigger her trauma or is a malevolent presence threatening her?

Detractors may complain that Finn’s debut just copies “It Follows” (2014) and elements from “It” (2017), “Hereditary” (2018) and “The Ring” (2002), which it does. “Smile” distinguishes itself with Bacon’s remarkable performance and how terrifying Cotter’s life is in either circumstance. Putting aside the supernatural elements, when faced with major life events and her mortality, Rose discovers that the beautiful personal life that she built for herself is shallow and unsustainable during times of crisis. Her refusal to address past trauma creates a cycle that makes her vulnerable to more trauma. By pretending to be fine, she has fewer support systems in place when the inevitable bump on the road hits.

Given the lack of substance in her personal life, it makes sense that she is a workaholic and immerses herself in nursing her inner child through others. The saddest part of “Smile” is watching how Cotter treats people in distress so we know what kind of comfort she would want and needs. Watch her body language, her rapt attention and gentleness. When the film shows her not getting reciprocal treatment, becoming the butt of ableist comments and being dismissed, it is heartbreaking. She is not just falling apart because of one extreme event—that event was a catalyst. The good news is that it forces her to drop the façade, demand more from the people around her and call them on their bullshit. Her sister and fiancé commit multiple benign betrayals by reacting like a normal person would in this situation. Cotter’s profession and reputation are meaningless. They do not really know her, and her credibility evaporates.

I usually dismiss jump scares as gimmicky and the weakest horror trope, but they work in “Smile.” Cotter is used to comforting her patients by reassuring her patients that their delusions are not real and cannot hurt you. When she starts seeing things, she is disturbed at not being able to trust her judgment, but is prepared with how to deal with them. She gets scared and reacts, but it is not the sole function of these delusions. It also makes people see her as erratic, shun her and makes her more alone. It ruins her character. 

“Smile” casting a black man as her fiancé was brilliant. Trevor (Jessie T Usher) clearly admires her selflessness and work ethic. If her mental health never came up for debate, he would have been by her side forever, but once she gets jumpy, a character dies, and she starts talking about the supernatural, all his doubts bob to the surface, and he skips over concerned and lands on suspicious. He acts like many black people would in real life in that situation. While I would not be him in the movie—my home and car are not nearly as nice, he was my closest proxy. 

“Smile” had some terrific camera work and composition. Finn often uses the camera in counterintuitive ways as if it was its own separate, curious character. It lingers and moves around the room when people are absent early in the film—setting the stage and getting to know people through the objects, the way that they organize their belongings. Our surroundings can reflect our state of mind. If you recall such scenes as Kilmonger entering the throne room in “Black Panther” (2018) or the opening scene in “Devil” (2010), Finn’s signature camerawork may feel familiar. The film gets more conventional as the denouement approaches, but the camera movement adds to the tension. The disoriented perspective of the camera adds to the protagonist’s world being turned upside down.

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“Smile” is a possession story taken out of the Christian mythology and treated like a virus. The most frightening aspect of a trauma induced psychosis or an evil creature tormenting her is the loss of identity. In the first case, she is conflated with her mother. In the second, another being hijacks your body. When she recounts the interaction with her patient, Laura Weaver (Caitlin Stasey), the most frightening part is no longer being in a room with Laura. Her body was there, but it is a different person. While the actual suicide is brutal, the sudden change in the interaction is the disturbing part. Erasure is death. 

“Smile” suggests that Cotter erases herself by refusing to face her past and living a superficial act. A smile is a signal to others that you are harmless, and everything is fine. Neither is true so a smile becomes frightening, grotesque, but even without possession, we must confront the horror of a smile when everything is not ok. Cotter suffers from dissociative states, but a smile is another way to induce one.

It is important to remember that even without the supernatural, Cotter was heading for a nervous breakdown. She was working nonstop. She stopped seeing her therapist. She has no real friends or family. She refused to examine her past. She was about to get married, and neither party fully trusted the other yet never discussed it. 

If it was not for annihilation, this curse improved her outlook. Cotter discovers things about herself and her loved ones in this process. She wants to live. She is not capable of killing another human being. She should not feel guilty about her past.

She is guilty of doing what her mother did to her: traumatize a child, her nephew, Jackson (Matthew Lamb). She may not have intended it, but it still happened. The movie leaves a lot of room for a sequel suggesting that Jackson is marked as a potential future victim. Like the vampires in “Dracula,” she also inadvertently exposes the most important person in her life to this virus though it is not a part of the mythology, which makes it more tragic. Hitherto fore, it was strangers and random. I love the end because it is so unremittingly bleak. 

Of course, Cotter has no control over this situation. She is forever changed after this encounter, and there is no going back. Either she will die, become a murderer, and get incarcerated or live in isolation alone with her thoughts. Lack of sleep and isolation contribute, but the most crucial turning point to becoming possessed is thinking that she can violate her moral code. During a dream, she has the vicarious experience of committing murder, which helps break her because it feels as if she did, and she has a guilty conscience. One visual signal that she is closer to breaking: when she sees a person rip the flesh from their face. It happens during that murder dream and close to the end. Like “Hereditary,” witnessing multiple traumatic incidents breaks their mind, but the entity suggests that Cotter invited it inside. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then by looking at her patient’s suicide, she did. Is this meta commentary on watching movies-why not look away when something bad is unfolding? Why are we drawn to horror and watching it? Cotter tries to look away once-in bed alone with the entity staring at her from the doorway. She is not looking, but she senses its presence.

No one cares, but I must discuss the cat scene. Cotter only pet that cat once, and anyone who has a bad day knows that you would be joined at the hip with the cat. The cat body looked fake and was necessary to get Cotter to lose her shit, but they needed to work on their relationship more. I’m with the fiancé. Once you suspect that your future wife killed the cat, it is over.

Shout out to the diverse casting. Kal Penn plays her boss, and the character is unremarkable through no fault of his own other than worrying that he will be next. Robin Weigert, whom I loved in “Concussion” (2013), is a great character actor, and I loved that she got a standout, memorable role. Scrubs’ Judy Reyes acted against type and was magnificent as the wife of a prior victim. Rob Morgan from Netflix Marvel series gets a prize cameo. Did I feel a little fucked with that the right man for Cotter just happens to be a white guy like “Love Actually” (2003)? A little, but it worked, and the story was well written so I am going to let it go.