Netflix has given us another international psychological thriller. Fever Dream is an adaptation of a 2014 novel by Samanta Schweblin, who also co-wrote the script. The movie is co-written by an Argentinian writer and the Peruvian director; it was filmed in Chile and the world premiere was held in Spain. I have no idea which country wants to lay claim to the movie so we’re just going to classify it as Spanish.

Amanda (Maria Valverde) moves to a small village with her daughter, Nina (Guillermina Sorribes Liotta). Soon after moving in, she meets Carola (Dolores Fonzi) who brings her water as the tap water is undrinkable. Carola tells Amanda about her son, David (Marcelo Michinaux) but notes that Nina should not play with him. Weird health issues begin happening to Amanda that she is unable to explain. A voice keeps telling her to pay attention to the details. It’s the things that go unnoticed that matter the most.

This movie is so difficult to explain. It is basically told entirely as a flashback but not in a way that we know it’s a flashback. As a result, very little is explained outright. There are things in the background that you need to pay attention to in order to grasp the reality of the situation. It doesn’t help that there are some supernatural elements in play as well.

Spoilers - I don’t know how to really talk about the movie without revealing the ending. So, if you don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading here and go watch the movie. - Spoilers coming!

Throughout the movie, there are a lot of references to water and how the children of the village are all deformed. We find out at the very end that the company Carola works for is spraying pesticides in the fields, which is leeching into the water supply. Not only are the children deformed from it, but Amanda and Nina get very sick from it. (Enter supernatural soul-swapping stuff…I don’t want to talk about that though.)

The entire movie takes place after Amanda has gotten sick and Carola’s son, David, is talking her through her memories. David had gotten deathly ill from the nearby river and a local village (witch) doctor saved him by sending half of his soul away with the poison while another soul would take over his body. That part makes no sense, which is why I’m not going to talk about it. It is unclear exactly when David is talking to Amanda or why it’s him talking her through everything. But when Nina gets sick, that village doctor puts half of her soul into David so now actual David is half-David/half-Nina? I don’t understand it.

Anyway, the movie did move very slowly. I think the rest of the world is way more patient that the United States. I think this would have bored the pants off of more people. However, with the exception of the stupid supernatural soul-swapping aspect, I did like the message of the movie. I think maybe they should have had David outright die and it was his spirit walking Amanda through the events. It also would have given Carola’s motives more nuance.

I want to recommend watching Fever Dream but only if you can handle the pacing. There are a lot of repeated scenes as David tries to get Amanda to understand what she remembers. But I do think the message is very important.