The Life Before Her Eyes (2007)

Director:

Vadim Perelman

Writers:

Laura Kasischke (novel)
Emil Stern (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 September 2008 (Poland)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Diana's life is not what it seems.

Plot:

A woman's survivor's guilt from a Columbine-like event twenty years ago causes her present-day idyllic life to fall apart.

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Shooting | Best Friend | Flashback | High School

Cast

Uma Thurman	...	Diana McFee
Evan Rachel Wood	...	Young Diana
Eva Amurri	...	Maureen
Gabrielle Brennan	...	Emma McFee
Brett Cullen	...	Paul McFee
Oscar Isaac	...	Marcus
Jack Gilpin	...	Mr. McClood
Maggie Lacey	...	Amanda - adult
John Magaro	...	Michael Patrick
Lynn Cohen	...	Sister Beatrice
Nathalie Paulding	...	Amanda - teen
Molly Price	...	Diana's Mother
Oliver Solomon	...	Detective
Isabel Keating	...	Maureen's mother
Anna Moore	...	Blonde Student (as Anna Renee Moore)

Also Known As:

In Bloom (USA) (pre-release title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violent and disturbing content, language and brief drug use.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

Poland:18 | USA:R (certificate #43660) | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Japan:PG-12 | UK:15 | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

Darien, Connecticut, USA

Company:

2929 Productions

Trivia:

At the start of the movie, when 'Uma Thruman''s character is flipping through radio stations, one of the songs you hear is "About Her" by Malcolm McLaren. The same song was in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) which Uma also stared in.

Quotes:

Maureen: How did you do on that test?
Young Diana: I did ok, I got the one about the heart...
Young Diana: I don't really think that's true though, Maureen - -about it being the strongest muscle...
Young Diana: [crying] I don't think in my case it is at all.

Movie Connections:

References "The Magic School Bus" (1994)

knockout impressive movie

Just saw this in Kiev without knowing a thing (except it was in English) because Evan Rachel Wood is a great actress and going to be a major star. This has all the tension and nail-biting suspense of Rukrainian Vadim's House of Sand + Fog- too much considering the subject. Wood made her bones in this movie- being erotic, sharp, deep, beautiful, wounded, terrified in utterly effortless and unaffected acting. Uma is not my favorite actress- showing the deeply neurotic side of her that I think is real, but it works perfectly in this movie- as she displays the PTSD that every person back from Iraq knows too well. The parallel track of what is going on with her wanton, wild, and maybe damaged daughter adds more tension- has the poison of that event somehow soaked into her daughter? The cinematography is excellent as it charts the deep feelings between 2 best girlfriends, and the mystical internal turmoil over time and memory, now and then, real and illusion.

My only problem is that I know this subject intimately - I reviewed the book Copycat Effect: http://hammernews.com/copycateffect.htm , which proves that almost any publicity about these mass shootings causes kids and adults to reenact them, usually on anniversaries of previous events. "Eyes" showed the shootings again and again in lovingly graphic detail and I don't think this subject should get any major movie play- it's just too dangerous. See if, in a couple of years, some schoolyard shooter doesn't say he saw this movie 20 times.