Review of The Life Before Her Eyes (2007) by Dylan B — 17 Nov 2008

If you mashed the scripts for Elephant, Memento, and The Butterfly Effect together, you might get something that resembles this movie.

The Life Before Her Eyes, which was criminally overlooked at the box office, is a wholly original and very unique film about a woman who is haunted by her past which is shattered in wake of a horrible school shooting on par with Columbine High School. The film plays out rather non-linear and flashes back and forth between Uma Thurman who plays Diana as an adult, and the flawless Evan Rachel Wood who plays Diana at 17. The scenes between Diana and her best friend Maureen are pitch perfect, and it's interesting to watch these polar opposite characters bounce off each other for both good and bad. As an adult, Diana is having a difficult time dealing with the fact that she has become everything she said she never wanted to be, and desperately misses her friend Maureen who was killed in the shooting. The circumstances surrounding her death, including the first bathroom scene, is nothing short of chilling.

Endings can make or break a film, and I have to say, this film's ending truly came through for it. The second the film ended I found myself wanting to go back and watch it all over again. It's a beautiful meditation into the choices people make and masterfully accomplished without leaving the audience feeling cheated. The film dares to ask a lot of tough questions and deals with sides to life and death that aren't usually addressed on screen.

The Life Before Her Eyes is haunting and provocative. Evan Rachel Wood and Uma Thurman give two amazing performances. Go rent this movie now!