Beautiful and Moving (a no-spoiler review)
Added 9/14/2009
The Life Before Her Eyes is a treasure.
Based on a novel by Laura Kasischke, it stars Uma Thurman as Diana "Dee" McFee, a teacher in a small New England town. Diana is married and has a daughter who shows signs of being as unmanageable as she, herself, was as a teen.
We get to see exactly how wild she was in flashbacks, with the marvelous Evan Rachel Wood perfect as the young Diana. (Wood as the young Thurman? Brilliant and inspired casting). We get to see the shape of her life then in order to compare it to her life as an adult. And we also get to see the horrible tragedy that haunts her as an adult and threatens her happiness, and even her sanity.
The story is powerfully moving, adapted to the screen by Emil Stern. The alternation between the past and present is graceful, and both actresses give amazing performances of real depth and feeling, without veering into melodrama. Director Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) and cinematographer Pawe Edelman provide lyrical visuals full of lovely everyday images potent, but not over-stuffed, with symbolism.
The Life Before Her Eyes is a wise film with a lot to say about life, the things we hold sacred, who we are at the best and worst of times, and the impact a few moments can have on eternity.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
Life as a post traumatic disorder
Added 8/26/2009
Diana and her high school friend Maureen are like day and night. Diana sleeps around, skips school and aparently cares about nothing, while Maureen is more subdued in every way. Until one day their class mate pulls out the gun in the school yard, starts shooting at students and teachers and at that moment changes everyone's lives.
Filmed as a flashback between Diana's young teenage life and her adult life as a mother, professor and a wife, it is a story that goes back and forth between past and present. It is almost that everything in Diana's life triggers some emotion or memory fromher distant past. One would think that 15 years after the fateful event of school shooting, Diana will be a well adjusted woman, but that is not a case.
She seems to want to redeem her choices made in her youth with the life she lives in her present. Until her seemingly well ordered life falls into pieces all at once and unexpectedly. Are such horrific events going to free her from her conscience, or take away a little bit of a sanity that is left in her? You watch the movie and then be the judge.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
not what it appears to be in flashback
Added 6/27/2009
little hard to follow sometimes,but I stick with uma and evan rachel even in flashback
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
QUESTION!
Added 4/28/2009
okay what was the part of the movie about her going to the hospital when she was younger and then with her boyfriend and the blood and she is like if this gets any worse i have to go to the hospital i am soo confused there
0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Best movie I've seen in a long time
Added 3/8/2009
It has been said that one can only understand one's life in the context of one's death, that our purpose is revealed to us when we realized that we too will die, and that we only have the courage to live our lives if we know and accept our imminent death. This movie is a great exploration into life, death, love, and possibility. Don't let it slip by. See it for yourself.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Interesting Film
Added 10/18/2009
This film was well worth watching. I won't say the ending is a total surprise as I figured out the plot halfway through. It was still a good flick, but not one I feel I need to own. The visuals are nice, but again, not really stunning to the point where you need to see them again and again. After you have seen it once there is nothing about it that makes you go back and watch it again unless you are seriously hung up on one of the actresses. I would definitely recommend renting the film.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
critics can be wrong...
Added 12/30/2008
After reading some reviews online I was worried that this movie was going to be pretty bad, but I was blown away by how good it was. A controversial storyline which certainly holds your attention, not to mention the filming is beautiful. I've seen this movie twice and can't wait to see it again. A great addition to anyones Blu-Ray collection; although the special features aren't too exciting. I'd recommend watching this movie atleast twice to get a full understanding of what happened.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Lush Visuals Accent a Story of Emotional Purity
Added 12/14/2008
This film stirs the soul as deeply as a fine symphony. The central character is an artist and teacher, Diana McFee, played at two junctures in her life by Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood. The adult Diana is haunted by the mistakes she made in her dissolute youth. The film deftly handles the flashbacks that allude to this point, with the linchpin a Columbine-like shooting that ends in a confrontation between the rampaging student and Diana and her solidly grounded best friend Maureen. A fine performance can almost be taken for granted from Thurman, and she delivers here without breaking a sweat. But Wood was a revelation. Her young Diana as a teen languishing in a sense of moral futility was deeply affecting. Of equal note is Eva Amurri as Maureen, the best friend with whom Diana shares that pivotal moment. This film is too humble an achievement in the cacophony of Hollywood hoopla to draw much attention to these performances, but they are definitely all noteworthy. In fact, the entire supporting cast should be commended, as every scene seems carved out of cool jade.
The cinematography is an essential part of this movie. Though Diana as a teen and as an adult is chronically confused, her melancholy blends into an almost paradisaical richness in the air. It begins with insects dreamily alighting in a lush garden, color and life humming on her periphery, an idyllic refuge that is perhaps appreciated by Diana only in retrospect. The look of the film is unquestionably part of its point, and therefore the Blu-ray should be the first choice in viewing this one. This is an exquisite film of emotional purity. I was left pondering it for days.
________________________________________________________
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
