Review of The Life Before Her Eyes (2007) by Emilia P — 13 Jan 2010

This movie moved me in many ways and made me think of many things as well. I related to so many scenarios as well as the emotions that certain dialogue captured. I quite enjoyed the way the movie told bit by bit of the whole story as it went, the flashbacks giving just a little more until I was sure I wasn't moving from my seat until the credits rolled. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous and the contrasts in certain scenes were so poetic such as the dead bird being fed on by ants next to the fresh blue of the flowers next to it.

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking back on the movie was the relationship and friendship the young Diana (played by Evan Rachel Wood) and her best friend Maureen (played by Eva Amurri) had. I found the differences between them as people made their friendship seem so realistic. I remember myself having friends in high school that were completely different from me. The way they interacted and the things they talked about were so spot on as far as conversations that really take place. Dreams of the future while dealing with the present the best way a teenager knows how in their individual way. I was especially moved by the scene where the girls are talking at kitchen table and Maureen, the responsible one, says they should get started. Diana's casual attitude and reply of "It's too hot to do homework" as the next shot shows them diving into a pool, really made me think of the freedom we feel at that age.

This movie handled a difficult topic that has been happening more and more in our society. I liked the fact that it took place it what seemed like a smaller town/city and not a large one. I think sometimes it's important to remember that evil can happen anywhere at anytime. There were a lot of side stories going on as well, so it's definitely a movie to pay attention to. As well as various themes throughout. Diana's struggle with her behavior, going through an abortion, getting in trouble, lighting up a cigarette as her religious friend dives back into the water urging her to follow and splashing her cigarette with water. If you pay close attention there is definitely a theme in this movie with water. Examples like always going to the swimming pool, the talk about the rain and how it crushes the flowers but some of them spring back up while the sprinkle ran as well as the teacher who seemed to have a way of getting through to the troubled Diana, spoke of not getting dehydrated and how the body is made up of mostly water. Then the very end of the movie where the shooter fires some rounds on the sinks and water begins to spray out casting a mist over the girls. Just like during the walk they took where Maureen told Diana her story of the rain and the flowers.

It is said by some that water represents life or cleansing and both meanings really make sense here. Maureen is spiritual and believes in god and the water becomes a place where Diana has either created life, or cleansed herself of something negative. She created life in the pool with her older lover, the water rippling over the tree in the sky as the camera looks up from under it that just seemed to reflect water and growth and life. When the teacher speaks of the heart and the mind and the body being made up of water, Diana seems to have found something good inside herself. It's as though his words had cleansed her from a little bit of her problems. The walk down the sidewalk with her best friend and the sprinklers going sending off a mist, bonding and probably being happier in her times with Maureen than any other times. Her constant trips to the pool at a fancier house, drowning her worries away. Then her falling to the water at the end, taking her own life for that of her friend. The heart being the strongest muscle and doing what she felt was right deep inside. A final cleansing or redemption for her sins.

I found the story of how Diana's life went once she was older interesting. The relationship she had with her daughter and the similarities between how she was as a child and the relationship she had with her mother. Repeating the same things her mother once said to her now to her own daughter. The way she was scared and bitter and angry all the time, the very thing she had told Maureen she didn't want to become and how her husband was cheating on her. I am trying to think of what her getting hit by the car and the scene where she imagined the blood down below as they were in the elevator has to do with the movie. I don't know if there is any underlying meaning there, except for when the Doctor says to her that she's lucky the driver missed her. Just like how the shooter didn't kill her either? The way her daughter had issues and was just like her mom, Diana really made me acknowledge how much things pass on generation to generation. It was like her child was a fear in her life, wild and uncontrollable just like life really is most of the time.

There are parts of me that wish I could have explored more of the plot lines presented, such as the shooter or maybe something about Maureen after the fact and what happened to her. However, I think that just tells me this was a good movie that made me think and care about all the angles. As I watched the film, I began to reflect on some of the friendships I had as a teenager. I thought of what it would be like to be involved in something like that and my heart went out to those in the real world who have experienced something so horrific. I also imagined myself after going through something like that, and how difficult of a time I believe I would have if I had a child. How paranoid and over protective I would be. I thought of how something like that changes you. The things that happen in our lives change us every day.

This movie was elegant, scary, sweet yet very bitter at the same time. I almost cried a few times, not sure if from what was happening or the mere beauty of the way this movie was filmed. I was left with final scene of the bathroom door closing, encapsulating the friendship and youth that Diana and Maureen shared. The very place where they entered with their freedom and both left forever changed.