The Life Before Her Eyes Review

Let me begin by saying I adore this film. The way its been put together its all just eurghh! I could gush about the artistry for ages. But I won't. Because I've already done so in another technically-observant film review.

Now I will warn you now that there are NO SPOILERS in this essay. And that was unbelievably hard to do, extremely. Because this is the type of film that incorporates one amazing twist and really shocks people.

Oh Hey, I've also just learnt that this film was based upon a book. However I'm a bit hesitant to read it. Just in case I ruin a great movie. (Thats like the opposite of how I usually think when it comes to books and film adaptions)

Here goes the essay:

Film Criticism: The Life Before Her Eyes, Directed by Vadim Perelman

The Life Before Her Eyes is a film filled with deeper meaning, things that seem ordinary are actually clues to the truth, something the viewer only realizes at the end of the film. The film, set in modern day America, begins with a school shooting. The effect is immediate, pulling the viewer into the action of the film. The protagonist and her best friend are trapped in a bathroom, cornered by the shooting student. The audience never see’s what happens at the end of the confrontation as we cut to a future version of Diana (the protagonist) many years later. It continues to be edited this way throughout the movie, cutting between past and present, including the day of the shooting and the days leading up to it, in the future we Diana struggles to deal with the pain of that day, even though we the viewers still do not know what has happened.

Vadim Perelman has put The Life Before Her Eyes together very artistically, running themes through the film flawlessly using script, mis en scene and acting. At the beginning of the film there is a montage of flowers, opening, closing, flourishing and dying. Throughout the film the director continues to contribute to the mis en scene as well as incorporating the films themes of life and death through the placement of flowers at all stages of life in the film. The second main element of the film is water, this is generally referred to through the use of script, sound and mis en scene, the film frequently has the water contributing to a scene, be it the girls swimming in a pool, running past a sprinkler or in one of the most poignant moments in the film, when a main character lies in a pool of water, dying, re-playing the line ‘The heart is the body’s strongest muscle’ along with the flashback memory of that character musing aloud and theorizing that if the human body is mostly water then when someone dies, wouldn’t most of their body go back into the atmosphere. That statement in the film isn’t there to be an interesting scientific theory, it is there to be poetic and its like the icing on the cake, if you will, of all the water-related mis en scene in this film, those repeated lines really tie that film and that moment together nicely. 

The editing in this film is done extremely well, it doesn’t follow your typical hollywood story’s chronological order, this films editing is done in such a complicated manner, but its the way that it has been edited that makes the story. Yes the editing is not simple to explain, but it is done so stylishly that by the end of the film you can appreciate that Vadim Perelman, Laura Kasischke (Writer of the novel, the movie is based on) and Emil Stern (wrote screenplay) aren’t just telling you a story, they are giving you pieces of a puzzle, making you a part of the journey, a tactic that gets the audience emotionally invested in the film. However Perelman doesn’t leave out information in a way that confuses the viewer, through the editing of past and present, the audience understands the question; what happened in the bathroom, to those two best friends during that school shooting. It is the answer, that piece of the puzzle, the final scene that really blows viewers away. That makes an exciting film, an enjoyable film. One that is not only entertaining, but leaves you with a sense of fulfillment, finally understanding all the things the director has shown you throughout the course of the hour. The film does make allowances for those with poor memories, compiling well-edited footage together at the end, displaying all the most important clues from the film. 

The soundtrack and camera-work compliment the film well, giving hard actions like diving into a pool or getting shot a sort of slow graceful look, dragging out the moment so that viewers can fully appreciate and process them. The Life Before Her Eyes has a strong storyline and standout mis en scene that are the defining aspects of the film. Vadim Perelman makes these aspects stand out more by keeping the soundtrack and camera work professional but subtle. The camera work is stylish but the techniques used aren’t uncommon, this would be too much for one person to take in alongside the other prominent film elements. 

The Life Before Her Eyes is a work of art. At first look it does appear that the film is exploring the themes of life and death, but at the same time the film looks at friendship, the focus on this theme actually outweighs the focus on life and death. The acting of the two main characters; Diana and Maureen is wonderful and this film looks at these two very different girls, the friendship they share and how that evolves in the months leading up to the school shooting. Maureen is rather quiet and comes from a good catholic family, she is the responsible caring one who helps Diana through many tough time. Diana on the other hand is rebellious, loud and though outwardly confident, quite insecure on the inside. Perhaps overshadowed by the other themes is abortion, this issue is dealt with and discussed without the viewer realizing it, often it is only after the credits are rolling that people realize just how tied in and prevalent this issue actually was, it isn’t discussed as an actual issue, merely examined. It is used as more of a plot device, a technical clue, to give it away would be to unravel the entire editing work of the entire film, as would many other aspects of the film. Seemingly ordinary parts of ‘present-day-diana’s life are clues or pieces of the film puzzle, that only take shape at the very end.

To be honest I liked this film because I understood it. And to be fair to those who didn’t I have to admit: I cheated. But not on purpose. I got the final piece of the puzzle first, so I did not have all the confusion that viewers who watched from the beginning of the film did. I walked in on the final scene of the movie, the actual audience, after the credits has come up on screen were sitting around open-mouthed asking ‘what just happened’ I was very proud that I could just stand there and explain what happened. But the disappointing thing is I will never experience what they had, an entire hour of believing you know whats going on, and then your whole understanding of the film flipped upside down because of one gigantic red-herring. The thing The Life Before Her Eyes should be commanded for is the fact that despite having only one mystery, one truth, and a multitude of clues, some that are so blatantly obvious they make you wonder if the DVD skipped a scene, The Life Before Her Eyes still manages to ‘blind-side’ all its viewers. The film is made in such a way that you cannot work it out because in the back of your mind, the actual answer to the films question is impossible. Then again, one could suppose that its the viewers fault for assuming that the film is actually asking them a question ‘what happened in the bathroom?’ when all the film is doing, is telling you the story.

By Isobel