What an exquisitely shot Television Drama. The cast are outstanding, the location is glorious to behold, the music has moments of pure enchantment.
But this isn't a Television Drama. It's a Feature Film that's supposed to be a chilling, period gothic ghost tale in much the same vein as The Woman In Black, The Orphanage or The Others. But unlike these movies, The Awakening contains pretty much no scares and very little atmosphere.

Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton act their little cotton socks off. I can honestly say the cast truly shine in their respective roles. The characters are deftly written and the tragedy that each has encountered in their lives burns through onto the screen.
Where there should be frights, I see sorrow and loneliness.
When macabre horror should be biting its chilling sting down my spine, there's a lowly emptiness instead.
... and no amount of foggy mist can alter that opinion.

I cannot reiterate enough how beautiful this film looks. It's worth a watch just for the sheer gorgeousness of the damned thing.

Unfortunately, pace-wise... it's a bit hard going. There never really seems to be any real drive. For entire scenes where tension should be mounting it just feels as though the director is sitting on his hands, swinging his legs.
Such a shame.
No scares. No tension. No forward momentum.
But despite all these things, I still kinda liked it.

The twists are pretty good and most certainly weren't what I had expected, but they all seemed a little too familiar.

Worth a watch, but it ain't going to be everyone's idea of fun