The Life Before Her Eyes

R

Released Apr 18, 2008

1h 30m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

List

24%

95 Reviews

Tomatometer

51%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

As the 15th anniversary of a fatal high school shooting approaches, former pupil Diana McFee is haunted by memories of the tragedy. After losing her best friend Maureen in the attack, Diana has been profoundly affected by the incident - her seemingly perfect life shaped by the events of that day.

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Critics Consensus

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

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R W

This film has superb acting and a really excellent script with a fresh perspective. If you know what's going on, it's not confusing at all. The choppiness and the flip flop of going back to present day and then future is necessary because the main characters brain would have been doing the same thing in a sort of fast paced manner. It's a really different examination of a tragedy and the way it was presented was a typical of what we see in films. My only slight issue was that they used a zombie song twice in the film. I think they could have used another song the second time which help to convey the point that the song was disseminating to the audience. And that really isn't a big issue because maybe that was her favorite song. We don't know. All I know is I really found this captivating and I would highly recommend it. I would say you have to pay attention and really listen to every word to understand and it's not for dummies because it's a deeper film with a artistic way of presenting events. I think it's a genius film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/23/22

Full Review

m h

I felt compelled to create a tomato account after seeing the surprisingly negative reviews here. I suppose they are mostly American reviews. Here in Europe, this movie did far better at the time. Could this have to do with the American sensitivity for school shootings? Or the lack of muscled men in this movie that always do the right thing? Or the American pencheant for mindless entertainment with a happy ending? Because this is not a feel good movie. The story is quite original and the ending is depressing and invites you to rethink the movie. Hence the movie stuck in my mind for a while. The visual production is sugary, yes, but I did not find that irritating, somehow it fits, it could be how one views her own life before her eyes I suppose. Also the acting was quite good, I mean who can fault Uma Thurman? I also watched "House of Sand and Fog" (2003) and "Persian Lessons" (2020) by the same director. Both are also fine movies with an off-beat original twist to them.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

jelisije j

A tragic yet heartfelt story which is mostly irrelevant with its third act.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

robert p

I guess I liked this movie more than anybody, I am a fan of Uma Thurman from many movies, especially KILL BILL 1 & 2. I had figured out the twist long before the ending, even at the beginning I knew we were going to see the movie through the eyes of Uma Thurman who was dying why the title of the movie says it all. Three and 1/2 stars is what I give this film!!!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Serge L

The film is beautiful, well done but the story is all mental feelings. We get confused as where reality and insanity are. The end is not helping in that regard except maybe confirms an insane state.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/27/21

Full Review

gene r

I think this approach to story-telling is an ingenuous attempt to appear sophisticated. I look at it primarily as a story that betrays itself.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Vadim Perelman

Director

Uma Thurman

Diana

Evan Rachel Wood

Young Diana

Eva Amurri Martino

Maureen

Brett Cullen

Paul McFee

Maggie Lacey

Amanda

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Hank Sartin

Time Out

Rated: 1/5

Nov 18, 2011

Full Review

Leo Goldsmith

indieWire

A hopelessly overblown melodrama, which oversteps its mark with pretensions of narrative complexity and social currency

Aug 8, 2009

Full Review

Anton Bitel

Little White Lies

[Perelman] over-explains everything at the end with a montage of repeated scenes that ensures you never need see this film more than once.

Aug 7, 2009

Full Review

Jason Best

Movie Talk

Some viewers will find the film's dreamlike mood overly arty and precious, but I was moved by its depiction of lives held in the balance on the cusp of adulthood.

Nov 21, 2020

Full Review

Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

Falls flat under the weight of its own self importance.

Rated: 2/4

Jul 6, 2019

Full Review

Annie Wagner

The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

Every retouched color and dramatic visual effect serves to pollute the movie's already sloppy metaphysics with an unpleasant strain of hysteria.

Aug 22, 2017

Full Review

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Synopsis

As the 15th anniversary of a fatal high school shooting approaches, former pupil Diana McFee is haunted by memories of the tragedy. After losing her best friend Maureen in the attack, Diana has been profoundly affected by the incident - her seemingly perfect life shaped by the events of that day.

Director: Vadim Perelman
Producer: Marc Butan, Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban
Screenwriter: Emil Stern
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: 2929 Productions
Rating: R (Language|Brief Drug Use|Violent and Disturbing Content)
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 18, 2008, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $303.4K
Runtime: 1h 30m

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