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Movies / Upcoming / The Life Before Her Eyes
The Life Before Her Eyes

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The Life Before Her Eyes (2008)

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Reviews Counted:91

Fresh:22

Rotten:69

Average Rating:4.4/10

Consensus: Despite earnest performances, Life Before Her Eyes is a confusing, painfully overwrought melodrama.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for violent and disturbing content, language and brief drug use

Runtime: 90 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:27-03-2009

Synopsis: Imaginative, impetuous and wild, Diana (Evan Rachel Wood) can’t wait for her adult life to begin. Whiling away the final days of high school in the lush springtime, Diana tests her limits with sex... Imaginative, impetuous and wild, Diana (Evan Rachel Wood) can’t wait for her adult life to begin. Whiling away the final days of high school in the lush springtime, Diana tests her limits with sex and drugs as her more conservative friend Maureen (Eva Amurri) watches with concern. But Diana’s aura of invincibility is shattered when a senseless act of violence erupts at school, forever changing the lives of the two best friends. Fifteen years later, a grown Diana (Uma Thurman) is still trying to come to terms with the traumatic events of that fateful day. On the surface, the adult Diana has made a picture perfect life for herself. She’s still living in the sleepy Connecticut suburb she grew up in with her husband Paul, a professor at the local college. Her beautiful young daughter, Emma, is smart and creative, and possesses a fiercely independent streak reminiscent of her mother. But all is not well—as the anniversary of her adolescent trauma approaches, the darkness that Diana has tried to escape closes in. Meanwhile, her husband has become increasingly absent, her daughter has taken to hiding from teachers, and worst of all, Diana’s own grip on reality is starting to falter. Moving seamlessly through both stages of Diana’s evolution, THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES delves deep into the crossroads that we all face—where a simple decision can change the course of everything to come, and where a lifetime can be encapsulated in a single moment. With THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES, Vadim Perelman, director of the acclaimed HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, has established himself as one of America’s greatest young directors of serious, probing drama. --© Magnolia [More]

Starring: Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, Eva Amurri, Oscar Isaac

Starring: Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, Eva Amurri, Oscar Isaac, Gabrielle Brennan

Director: Vadim Perelman

Director: Vadim Perelman
Screenwriter: Emil Stern
Producer: Vadim Perelman, Aimee Peyronnet, Anthony Katagas
Composer: James Horner
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

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Reviews for The Life Before Her Eyes

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81 - 92 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

One only wonders whether distributor Magnolia Pictures and Perelman's cast and crew grasp the film's undisguised misogyny.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
04/15/08
Maria Garcia
Maria Garcia
Film Journal International

Gorgeous, haunting and thought-provoking ... a solid sophomore effort from Perelman despite its potentially frustrating pace.

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
04/15/08
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

In between snorting and rolling your eyes, you can pass the time pitying Thurman, who has to emote in a vacuum, and admiring Wood.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
04/14/08
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
New York Magazine

Audiences used to having everything spelled out for them may find the film too much work, but there are, I hope and believe, many people who appreciate and enjoy unraveling the mysteries of a poem or painting for themselves.

Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
04/12/08
Kim Voynar
Kim Voynar
Cinematical

A melodramatic portrait of violence and mourning, Vadim Perelman's disappointing follow-up to House of Sand and Fog turns Laura Kasischke's novel into an overly precious, pseudo-poetic meditation in which the pain of loss is indulged rather than examined.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
04/11/08
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

With over eight months left in the year, it requires a certain audacity to declare that The Life Before Her Eyes is, and will always be, the absolute worst film of 2008 ...

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment 1 Comment
04/08/08
Harry Chotiner
Harry Chotiner
culturevulture.net

Involvement is less than it might have been as sympathy gets nicked away by the effort to resolve the associations and meanings. The search for the "ah hah!" moment is exhausting.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
03/27/08
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

...an intricately-plotted and richly conceived drama...

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
10/27/07
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

The trouble lies in the story.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
10/04/07
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

Intermingles the past and present, and the real and the imagined, to intriguing if occasionally head-scratching effect.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
09/18/07
Michael Rechtshaffen
Michael Rechtshaffen
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Not as profound in its revelations as it wants to be, but with strong acting and a strong visual palette, it's a success.

Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
09/15/07
Ryan Stewart
Ryan Stewart
Cinematical

...profoundly confusing In Bloom arrives at some very tenuous moral conclusions that might alienate much of its supposed target audience.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
09/10/07
John Anderson
John Anderson
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
81 - 92 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5
all

Latest News for The Life Before Her Eyes

September 22, 2008: BloggingSundance.com: An anti-abortion movement propaganda screed masquerading as a teen angst drama. There's apparently a new kind of female road movie out there, called the guilt trip. Opens in new window
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February 09, 2008: Trailer & Poster review Opens in new window
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