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Life Before Her Eyes (The)
R1 - America - Magnolia Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James Teitelbaum (1st October 2008). |
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The Film
 Here is an interesting and thought provoking little film, but during which almost nothing happens. We'll call it a character piece, and without giving too much away, it ought to appeal to fans of David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" (2001) and Adriane Lyne's "Jacob's Ladder" (1990). For all intents and purposes, the film takes place in three minutes: two young girls, Diana (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maureen (Eva Amurri) are in the bathroom of their high school. A young man with a machine gun storms into the room. The two girls see a dead teacher in the hallway, and realize that they are about to be the next victims in a Columbine-style massacre. The boy gives them a choice: he will only slay one of the girls, but they must decide between themselves who is to die. A choice is made. The film returns to this short scene a handful of times (perhaps one or two too many times), revealing a bit more of the outcome each time. Eventually, we learn how it all ends. That is basically the 'now' of "The Life Before Her Eyes". The remainder of the running time consists of flashbacks of Diane's life up until that point, and of flashes forward to a future fifteen years distant. These temporal leaps reveal the character of adolescent Diana, and inform the decisions she makes during the crucial moments of shooting, while also providing a look at the future implications of her choices. That said, there is no real story to speak of, although this is not necessarily a problem. Played as an adult by Uma Thurman, Diana has apparently survived and now lives a rather idyllic life. Whereas young Diana had been a wild girl, a free-spirited troublemaker, and a poor student, the older version of Diana has a charming and successful husband, a cute daughter, a nice house, and a good job as an art teacher. Plus, she's Uma Thurman, and let's face it: not too many teenage girls would mind growing up into Uma. It all begins to unravel for Uma's Diana on the fifteenth anniversary of the shooting. Her perfect life crumbles, and in the last ten minutes of the film, we get a twist on reality. This twist can be seen coming from a reel or two out, but the editing and writing are skillful enough that it does not feel tacked-on, contrived, or like a deus ex machina. I bought it. "The Life Before Her Eyes" is a film about the moment when we become adults. It is about leaving behind the selfishness of childhood and adolescence, and of the moment we realize the importance of placing others before one's self. It is about regret, remorse, and moving past our mistakes - or of letting these mistakes define us forever, which may be the motivating fear behind Diana's choice. She seems to want to become a better person, a person more like her hopelessly square and overly moral pal Maureen, but she is also terrified that her reckless ways will forever taint her life and the lives of those close to her. On an instinctive level, humans are motivated by two primary forces: fear and desire. Fearing her own inability to turn her life around, she lets her own self-loathing dictate her destiny.
Video
Presented in an aspect ratio is 2.35:1, anamorphic. This is a great looking film (and I am not talking about all of the scenes of Wood in a red bikini, recalling Phoebe Cates in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982) !). The editing by newcomer David Baxter (This is his second film!) is complex and detailed, and indeed it has to be to make this movie work. Save for a few bits that could be trimmed during repeats of the shooting scene, the tight cuts and the flashes forward and back are the crux of a movie that would collapse without Baxter's solid work. Cinematographer Pawel Edelman (primarily known for his work in Polish cinema) shoots with a deep and rich palette, giving every scene a hyper-real feeling suitable for the story at hand. All of this looks great on DVD, solidly captured and presented without notable flaws. The blacks are deep and the colors pop. An opening titles sequence showing flowers in bloom morphing in and out of each other looks great as well. Running time is 1:29:32, divided into 24 Scenes.
Audio
"The Life Before Her Eyes" is presented in either English Dolby Digital 5.1 or English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround with optional subtitles in Spanish only. This is a character drama, so as a result the surrounds don't get too much of a workout, except perhaps in the shooting sequence. James Horner's score is effective if unsurprising.
Extras
Magnolia have released this film with an audio commentary, a documentary, a featurette, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, a casting tape and a photo gallery. Below is a closer look at these supplements. There is an audio commentary with director Vadim Perelman and production designer Maia Javan, in which they discuss some of the themes in the film. Perelman does most of the talking, and Javan even seems a bit reluctant to speak, only doing so when prodded by Perelman. The director gives away the twist ending spoilers right off the bat, but then goes on to illustrate the choices in writing, direction, and editing that needed to be made in order to make this story work. A good track. "Flashback: Behind The Life Before Her Eyes" runs for 54 minutes 21 seconds; and is a making-of documentary that runs a little longer and goes just a little deeper than most of the template-produced DVD features of its ilk. Interviews, behind the scenes footage, et cetera. "Reflections Back and Beyond" featurette runs for 11 minutes 41 seconds; and are interviews with people (all but one are middle-aged women) who have had near-death experiences, mixed with poetry quotes related to the subjects of life and death. A deleted scenes reel runs for 11 minutes 58 seconds and consist of a montage of footage without individual titles or breaks between them. There's an alternate ending that runs for 12 minutes 57 seconds; This is essentially the last thirteen minutes of the film presented nearly identically to the final version. A few minor editing tweaks were made, but it isn't very different. Eva Amurri casting tape runs for 3 minutes 49 seconds; The actress performs a screen test. "Flower" photo gallery is still images from the title sequence, flower montage consists of more morphing images of flowers as seen in the titles and runs for 2 minutes 51 seconds.
Overall
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