The Haunting of Bly Manor 2020 Movie Review

『The Light of True Love Beyond Wounds and Curses』

🎥 Series Overview

🎬 Title: The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
🌍 Country: 🇺🇸 United States
🎞️ Genre: Supernatural / Horror / Drama / Gothic Romance
🗓️ Production & Release: Netflix, 9 episodes total
📢 Director: Mike Flanagan

👩‍💼 Cast: Victoria Pedretti – Dani Clayton
Amelia Eve – Jamie

🧩 Deep Story Exploration (Spoilers)

🌹 Redefining "Ghosts" and the Weight of Love

The Haunting of Bly Manor revolves around the theme that "the way people remember their loved ones becomes the ghosts themselves." Unlike its predecessor, The Haunting of Hill House, this series showcases the essence of Gothic romance beyond mere horror. It draws inspiration from Henry James’ novella The Turn of the Screw, while deeply exploring universal human emotions such as love, loss, and guilt.

👻 Ghosts as the Weight of Memory

In this series, ghosts are not sudden jump-scare entities, but symbols of beings trapped in oblivion over time.

• "Tucked Away": The ghosts of Bly Manor experience being trapped in the moment of their death or the most painful memory. This metaphorically illustrates how dementia or profound grief can erode one’s identity. Hannah Grose’s storyline, revealing that she was a ghost from the start, highlights how denial and repetitive memory mirror the ghostly state.

• Faceless Ghosts: The oldest ghosts of the manor gradually lose the shape of their faces as they forget themselves. This conveys that as those who remember disappear, the essence of the soul fades, emphasizing that ghosts represent the sorrow of forgotten existence.

🩵 Sacrificial Love vs. Possessive Love

The drama contrasts various forms of love, exploring the true meaning of love.

💚 Pure and Sacrificial Love: Dani & Jamie

The relationship between Dani and the gardener Jamie displays the most devoted and selfless love, founded on embracing another’s suffering.

Dani absorbs the curse of "The Lady in the Lake," freeing all the spirits trapped in Bly Manor and saving the children. She initially lives happily with Jamie, but when the curse resurfaces, threatening Jamie, she chooses the ultimate sacrifice by ending her own life and returning to the lake. Their love transcends mere companionship, reaching a noble level where one willingly sacrifices oneself for the safety and freedom of the loved one.

⛵️ Misunderstood Romance: Hannah & Owen

The relationship between housekeeper Hannah and cook Owen is a tragic yet hopeful love based on maturity and deep friendship.

Though they never achieve a conventional romantic relationship, their bond is filled with emotional connection and understanding of each other’s pain and loss. Even while Hannah remains trapped in the manor unaware of her death, Owen persistently encourages her to leave Bly and live a new life together. After her passing, Owen opens the restaurant Hannah dreamed of, honoring a love they could never fully share but never forgot. This relationship symbolizes “what could have been” romance and continuing respect and affection even after loss.

💥 Destructive Possession: Peter & Rebecca

The relationship between former butler Peter and previous governess Rebecca exemplifies selfishness and manipulation disguised as love.

Even after death, Peter refuses to let Rebecca go, convincing her to let his spirit inhabit her body. This leads to a tragedy where Peter manipulates Rebecca into suicide and ensures she remains trapped with him as a ghost at Bly Manor forever. Their relationship starkly illustrates how possessiveness and obsession, not love, can destroy another by disregarding their will and happiness.

🕯️ Dani & Jamie: The Saddest and Most Beautiful Romance

The emotional core of the series is the WLW (woman-loving-woman) romance between protagonist Dani and gardener Jamie.

• “The Beast in the Jungle” metaphor: Dani arrives at Bly Manor burdened by past guilt over hiding her identity and nearly marrying a fiancé (ghost). Jamie embraces even Dani’s inner darkness. Their relationship is a fateful and tragic romance, loving fully while aware of the inevitable catastrophe.

• Ultimate Sacrifice: Dani absorbs the curse of the "Lady in the Lake" to become the "new lady," an act of selfless love ensuring she never loses those she cherishes. She lives nearly a decade happily with Jamie, but when the curse returns, she leaves Jamie and returns to the manor, casting herself into the lake.

• Lingering Ending: As revealed in the final scene, the narrator is an older Jamie. She has kept Dani’s memory alive her entire life and falls asleep with the hope that Dani may return, leaving the door slightly ajar. The final moment, showing Dani’s hand on Jamie’s shoulder, beautifully proves that true ghosts are the memories of love that are never forgotten.

💡 Gothic Drama Focused on Loss Rather Than Fear

While The Haunting of Bly Manor may lack typical horror elements like jump scares or gore, it excels in portraying the "horror of loss and farewells."

The series illustrates how we all live with the ghosts of those we’ve loved, and though time may fade everything, sacrificial love and memory endure, making it a heartbreaking yet perfectly melancholic Gothic drama.

🎯 Personal Rating (Preferences)

💕 Romance Intensity: ♥♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★★