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Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, Eva Amurri, Brett Cullen, Oscar Isaac ... see more see more... , Gabrielle Brennan , Jack Gilpin , Maggie Lacey , John Magaro , Lynn Cohen , Nathalie Nicole Paulding , Molly Price , Oliver Solomon , Anna Renee Moore , Isabel Keating , Adam Chanler-Berat , Tanner Cohen , Aldous Davidson , Ann McDonough , Sharon Washington , Kia Jam , J.T. Arbogast , Jewel Donohue , Shayna Levine

Based on author Laura Kasischke's novel The Life Before Her Eyes, House of Sand and Fog director Vadim Perelman's provocative study of memory, morality, and conscience stars Uma Thurman as the guilt-r... read more read more...idden survivor of a harrowing, Columbine-like high-school shooting. To any outsider, Diana (played as a young girl by actress Evan Rachel Wood) and Maureen (Eva Amurri) were polar opposites; Diana was always questioning authority, while Maureen quietly went about fulfilling the expectations of her devoutly religious family. Yet it was precisely theses differences that drew the two girls to one another and found them gradually growing to become best friends. As with any anxious high-school student, Diana and Maureen both existed in that strange grey zone between childhood and adulthood that found them constantly pondering the endless possibilities that awaited them in the outside world. Flash forward years later, and Diana's (played as an adult by Thurman) life isn't anything like she imagined it would be as a young girl. As Diana's traumatic past gradually comes into focus, it soon becomes obvious that she was profoundly affected by a pivotal event that occurred just prior to her high-school graduation. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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54% liked it

8,118 ratings

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24% liked it

93 critics

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Vadim Perelman

Release Date: September 8, 2007

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DVD Release Date: August 19, 2008

Stats: 1,069 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,069)

  • imrealgod
    February 17, 2011
    imrealgod
    This film reminded me of 'Stay'. But while I liked 'Stay', I didn't like this one much. The story is told in an unconventional way, and that's what goes against this movie. It was told in a very complex and confusing way, which while maybe smart and brilliant, but wasn't a fair d... read moreecision in this case. The ambiguity wasn't applied effectively and I guess that the shoddy screenplay is to be blamed for that. On the other hand, I found the main plot of the movie to be quite impressive. Could have been far better... if only they'd executed it in an appropriate manner!!! The thoughtless and careless use of the subject matter makes the movie rated much lower than what it would otherwise have been worth of.
  • neverteaseaweasel
    August 17, 2010
    neverteaseaweasel
    It's funny how insignificant teenage years seem when you're actually living them. Culture and media tell us that they are the defining years, that we will all look back someday and see them as the turning points in our lives. I'm not totally sure I buy into it, but apparently Vad... read moreim Perelman does. We see the days and events that defined Miss Diana's life, and, big surprise, they all occur within those glorious teen years. I wonder if at some point in all of our lives we are completely filled, everything is finally how it should be. Then, something happens and we break, and the moment defines everything else, rewrites everything to happen thereafter. The film is emotionally devastating. Very rarely is a story this intense or affecting. There is a major plot change close to the end of the film and I didn't totally understand it. Depending on how it was to be taken, it sort of changes my perception of the film. Then again, that could have been the point. It is a beautiful, dense film and I really think it would take multiple viewings to understand everything that was communicated, grasp all of the meaning.
  • paulsandberg
    August 9, 2010
    paulsandberg
    I had no preconceived ideas about this film going in, other than I had heard that Uma Thurman had given a good turn in a dramatic role, so I was able to sit back and let the film unfold.

    What appears on the surface to be a story about teen angst and overcoming not only a trage... read moredy, but the mistakes you make in high school, both told in well balanced flash-backs, The Life Before Her Eyes has a plot twist that I found provocative and did not see coming (unlike Shutter Island).

    I found the script to be intellegent and well crafted and the photography to be sublime. The traumatic tragedy is handled very well, giving you just a hint of gore without wallowing in it. Each flashback to those scenes is just different enough to continue to rachet up the emotional impact. There are themes that continue to fold back into themselves, like the scenes involving rain and water (the photography where you view events from underwater, making what you see somewhat blurry and distorted is wonderful and subliminally telling).

    I became emotionally invested in the two high shool girls, who are obviously BFF before the term was coined, and found Uma's reflections on those days poignant, as triggered by the 15th year anniversary of the tragic school event.

    I knew a girl in high school who not only looked a bit like Evan Rachel Wood, but embraced the rebelious, maverick nature she portrayed, so her performance, while a bit uneven, resonated for me, and I found it ironic that her older, more stable self, portrayed by Uma Thurman, was frustrated by her own young rebelious daughter.

    Unfortunately there are a few scenes that are overwrought and melodramatic, which are all the more out of place when viewed in context with the rest of the film, but for each questionable scene there are moments of brilliance, from the beautifully crafted visuals to the scenes with Uma, as an art teacher, discussing art as a window into the essence of life.

    I thought that the film had made a misstep when, about 3/4 through, it showed a flashback to the parochial school which had just put crosses on its expansive lawn to protest the abortion clinic in town; again, a beautifully crafted scene of visual impact - but it left me wondering why, with all the emotional baggage, Uma would choose to enroll her own child there. Of course this and the repeated use of Rod Argent's old Zombies song are all revealed in the closing act.
  • sononothing
    June 23, 2010
    sononothing
    The Life Before Her Eyes opens up with the typical high school day of not really caring about classes and dishing on whoâ??s doing what with whom. But as Diana (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maureen (Eva Amurri) discuss life and death affairs in front of the bathroom mirror all hell brea... read moreks loose as a student, alienated and depressed, begins to pen fire throughout the school. Eventually he makes his way to the bathroom and the life changing event for these two girls.

    Flash to twenty years later and Diana (Uma Thurman) is married with a child, but the past still haunts her. The events of that day leave a thick cloud over her world and dictates what she does and where her child goes to school. As the anniversary of the event approaches Diana finds that it is allowing for her life to spiral out of control.

    This is an OK exercise in examining the teenagers we were and how they became the adults we are today. Wood and Amurri keep the audience interested while Uma begins to bore us to the point of annoyance. She either over sells it or under sells it and it coats the film in a funk that it doesnâ??t really get out of. A competent film that youâ??ve never heard of it does present an interesting premise, yet director Vadim Perelman tends to go a little to artsy with the film. Itâ??s a slightly above average film at best that youâ??ll watch, roll over, go to sleep, and forget about in the morning like a nothing special dream.
  • LWOODS04
    November 29, 2009
    LWOODS04
    Brian M. Wixson, Eva Amurri, Evan Rachel Wood

    Diana is a suburban wife and mother who begins to question her seemingly perfect life--and perhaps her sanity--on the 15th anniversary of a tragic high school shooting that took the life of her best friend. In flashbacks, Diana is... read more a vibrant high schooler who, with her shy best friend Maureen, plot typical teenage strategies--cutting class, fantasizing about boys--and vow to leave their sleepy suburb at the first opportunity. The older Diana, however, is haunted by the increasingly strained relationship she had with Maureen as day of the school shooting approached. These memories disrupt the idyllic life she's now leading with her professor husband Paul and their young daughter Emma. As older Diana's life begins to unravel and younger Diana gets closer and closer to the fatal day, a deeper mystery slowly unravels.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Tragic, sad, and heart breaking. That's what I think of after seeing this movie. Such amazing performances by Evan Rachel Wood and Eva Amurri. This has to be my favorite performance by both of them. This movie takes you back and forth from the past to the present. It gets you right at the begining of the film. Two best friends standing in the bathroom pleading for their lives, and yet the killer with the gun says only one of them will die, and then he asks the most horrific question. "Which one of you do I kill?" Leaving it up to the best friends to decide which one of them should be left alive. It keeps you guessing as to what happens until the end. Some people are disappointed with the ending, and really didn't understand it. But I say take away from it what you will.
  • bookmunki
    October 16, 2008
    bookmunki
    this movie was to disjointed in its time sequences to be classified as good.
  • LitelBluHli
    August 27, 2008
    LitelBluHli
    One of the films where I've been wanting to see for a while now. I believe Evan Rachel Wood is a talented young actress so, of course this film certainly got my attention.

    This film takes you on the journey of a lost girl who's trying to find her true self. It's a must see!
  • dunmyer
    May 1, 2008
    dunmyer
    [font=Garamond][size=3]Pairing [b]Uma Thurman[/b] and [b]Evan Rachel Wood[/b] was a stroke of genius. They are so alike that it's almost creepy. Sadly, that's the most interesting thing about "The Life Before Her Eyes." I'd like to see these two actresses in a great movie someday... read more. "Her Eyes" isn't terrible. It's even slightly better than mediocre, but only slightly.[/size][/font]
    [font=Garamond][size=3][/size][/font]
    [font=Garamond][size=3][img]http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/magnolia/the_life_before_her_eyes/thelifebeforehereyes_galleryposter.jpg[/img][/size][/font]
    [font=Garamond][size=3][/size][/font]
    [font=Garamond][size=3]The film is about a well-educated, artistic woman named Diana, played by Thurman. Diana is married, teaches art history, and is raising a daughter of about seven. Like Thurman and Wood, the girl playing the daughter is blonde. Evan Rachel Wood plays Diana as a teenager. There is a terrible tragedy in Diana's high school when she is a student there, a Columbine-style massacre occurs. Diana and her best friend are trapped in the girls' bathroom by the killer, who only wants to shoot one of them. But they have to choose. [/size][/font]
    [font=Garamond][size=3][/size][/font]
    [font=Garamond][size=3]This "Sophie's Choice" scene in the girls room is shown in flashback many times in the film. Each time the scene lasts longer, until the denouement of the movie is when we see everything. I find this method of ever-longer flashbacks to be colossally hackneyed as a device. It was interesting maybe in 1970s television movies. But its overuse long ago rid it of any power. I affectionately call it the narrative device for morons.[/size][/font]
    [font=Garamond][size=3][/size][/font]
    [font=Garamond][size=3]For any film in the 21st century, much less a supposed artistic film, to use such clumsy devices is inexcusable. The creative team ought to be ashamed. Things such as this cause "The Life Before Her Eyes" to reek at times of a made-for-TV movie by the Lifetime channel.[/size][/font]
    [font=Garamond][size=3][still working on this][/size][/font]
    [font=Garamond][size=3][/size][/font]
  • gator681
    May 27, 2009
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]In "The Life Before Her Eyes," Diana(Evan Rachel Wood) and Maureen(Eva Amurri) are high school students from different backgrounds and attitudes who are inseparable after a visit to the principal's office. Their bond is put to the test when Michael(John Maga... read morero) goes on a shooting spree, cornering them in a bathroom. Then, he says he will kill one of them.[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]Diana(Uma Thurman) is married to Paul(Brett Cullen) and mother to Emma(Gabrielle Brennan). She teaches art history at a high school and is not looking forward to the annual remembrance of the school shooting.[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]"The Life Before Her Eyes" is a glossy and overdeveloped movie with suprisingly little genuine emotion. And that whole the heart is the strongest organ, sheesh...should have stuck with physics. And the ending is so convoluted that it suggests two possibilities, one more likely than the other. In fact, because of the movie's agenda, it barely scratches the surface when it comes to the theme of duality in life, starting with science and religion coexisting. Diana and Maureen are in a sort of indeterminate state for most of the movie, kind of like Schrodinger's Cat, neither alive or dead, which is altered by the viewer watching the movie. On the other hand, we are talking about the cliched embodiment of madonna and whore, here. They are also part of an event that will end the potential of many a young person.(Taking this to its extreme conclusion, you could say the same thing about abortion, but I would strongly disagree.) Well, that's how the media puts it when something like this happens in surburbia. And what about Michael? Did he have no potential or choices left?[/font]
  • fb1144932598
    March 21, 2009
    fb1144932598
    It is nearly impossible to write a review without giving away the plot, but this viewer will try. A beautiful film about a tragedy and its aftermath. This viewer recommends when viewing the DVD to make sure that you watch the special features. The film left many questions, most o... read moref which were answered in the extras. Uma Thurman as the elder Diana and Evan Rachel Wood as the teen Diana were entirely believable as two versions of the same person. Eva Amurri was totally believable as Diana's best friend, Maureen, the good little girl opposite Diana's wild child. Gabrielle Brennan played Diana's daughter Emma and was a pretty little thing without being too cutsie. Powerful emotions are unleashed and choices are made that will haunt even the most seasoned viewer. A timely tale of senseless violence and its long-lasting effect on those who are touched by it.

View All The Life Before Her Eyes Reviews

Critic Reviews

Tom Long
May 2, 2008
Tom Long, Detroit News

In the end, Life is a challenging success, with Wood's performance again affirming her status among the young generation of actors, and Perelman's vision promising more intrigue to come. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
April 25, 2008
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Thoroughly thought through and photographed with imagination and psychological penetration, it's the product of a very shrewd directorial hand. Full Review

J. R. Jones
April 25, 2008
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Perelman never overcomes the disjuncture of having two familiar actresses play the same grown character, and despite the endless crosscutting, the two halves settle respectively into ghoulish forebodi... Full Review

Janice Page
April 25, 2008
Janice Page, Boston Globe

The Life Before Her Eyes might offer a fresh perspective on aborted dreams, but its insights are buried under stale, inflated moviemaking. Full Review

Rob Nelson
April 25, 2008
Rob Nelson, Chicago Sun-Times

Not a film entirely devoid of virtue, though it comes closer to that mark than any movie I've seen this year--closer than any movie I'd care to see in any year. Full Review

Steven Rea
April 25, 2008
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

There are two very fine performances here -- Wood's and Amurri's -- but they're not strong enough to rise above the metaphor-laden script. Full Review

Sid Smith
April 24, 2008
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune

It's too clever by half, too facile in its use of sensationalist headline material, too far-fetched in its psychological fancy. Full Review

Ann Hornaday
April 24, 2008
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Uma Thurman delivers a mesmerizing performance in The Life Before Her Eyes, a film that, once seen and fully digested, exerts the same haunting pull as the shattering events it chronicles. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
April 24, 2008
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

A fictional drama that uses a Columbine-like high school massacre as a plot device had better have solid justification for engaging our grief and horror. Full Review

Richard Roeper
April 21, 2008
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

I think it's a strong film.

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  • Which movie did this quote come from? "I just couldn't hand her to a woman that calls her husband sir, it gave me the chills, her life flashed before my eyes and then suddenly I saw her with frosty pink lipstick wearing a dairy queen uniform."  Answer »
  • In the movie "The Life Before Her Eyes" Evan Rachel Wood decides to give up 'what' at the end of the movie?  Answer »
  • Which heroine does not have a drinking problem?  Answer »
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