''The Life Before Her Eyes'' is a 2007 American

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by Vadim Perelman. The screenplay was adapted by Emil Stern from the

Laura Kasischke Laura Kasischke is an American fiction writer and poet. She is best known for writing the novels '' Suspicious River'', ''The Life Before Her Eyes'' and '' White Bird in a Blizzard'', all of which have been adapted to film. Life and work She was ...

novel of the same name. The film stars

Uma Thurman Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress and former model. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 an ...

and Evan Rachel Wood. It was released on April 18, 2008, and revolves around a

survivor's guilt Survivor guilt (or survivor's guilt; also called survivor syndrome or survivor's syndrome and survivor disorder or survivor's disorder) is a mental condition that occurs when a person believes they have done something wrong by surviving a traumati ...

from a Columbine-like event that occurred 15 years previously, which causes her present-day idyllic life to fall apart.

Plot

Imaginative, impetuous, and wild Diana McFee ( Evan Rachel Wood) cannot wait for her adult life to begin. While awaiting 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. Then the two teens are involved in a Columbine-like shooting incident at their school and are forced to make an impossible choice. The film mostly focuses on Diana's adulthood (

). She leads an apparently normal life as an art history university professor. She has a daughter, Emma (Gabrielle Brennan), and she is married to the professor who once gave a speech in her school about the power of visualization, how one can shape one's own future in this way. However, Diana continues to feel guilty about something that does not let her sleep. One day she gets a call from Emma's school, where the nuns running the school complain about Emma's behavior. At an ice cream parlor, Diana asks Emma not to hide any more as she is always doing; Emma responds to her mother's reproaches with the claim that Diana hates her. They leave the parlor abruptly and as they are about to get into the car, Diana sees her husband with another woman. She hesitates about confronting him and instead remains in the middle of the street where she is hit by a pickup truck. On her way to the hospital she imagines that blood is escaping from her body. In reality, she has not been hurt by the accident. Instead, Diana is remembering the complications she had following an abortion in her high school days. The day of the 15th anniversary of the shooting, a memorial is held at the school. Diana drives in front of the school several times until she finally decides to stop and bring in some flowers. As she enters the school she is asked whether she is one of the survivors. She smiles and walks inside, first leaving flowers on some desks and then moving on to the rest rooms where one of the shootings took place. At that moment she gets a call from Emma's school informing her that her daughter is missing and that a pink piece of clothing has been found in the woods. She drives there and walks through the woods, shouting out her daughter's name. Emma appears before Diana's eyes for a moment but then vanishes almost as soon as she has appeared. It is revealed what occurred fifteen years earlier in the washroom where Diana left the flowers. She and Maureen had been forced to decide who would survive when confronted by the shooter, Michael Patrick (

John Magaro John Robert Magaro (born February 16, 1983) is an American actor. He starred in '' Not Fade Away'' (2012). He also had roles in ''The Big Short'', '' Carol'' (2015) and the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'' and ''The Umbrella Academy''. ...

). Though Maureen had offered herself first, the shooter questioned why Diana should not die. In response, Diana agreed to be killed and was shot by Michael, who then killed himself. At that moment, Diana dreamed the adult life she thought she would have if she let Maureen die and Emma was the child she would have had if she had not gone through the abortion. At the anniversary, Diana is asked once again if she is a survivor. She replies "No" with a smile, with a sense of relief that she did the right thing by dying and having her friend live her life.

Cast

as Diana McFee * Evan Rachel Wood as young Diana McFee * Eva Amurri as Maureen *

Brett Cullen Peter Brett Cullen (born August 26, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Dan Fixx in ''Falcon Crest'' (1986-1988), Sam Cain in '' The Young Riders'' (1989-1990), Governor Ray Sullivan in ''The West Wing'' (2005-2006), Go ...

as Paul McFee * Gabrielle Brennan as Emma McFee *

Adam Chanler-Berat Adam Brian Chanler-Berat (born December 31, 1986) is an American stage and film actor and singer. He is best known for his work on Broadway, originating the roles of Henry in '' Next to Normal'' (2008–2011), Boy in '' Peter and the Starcatcher ...

as Ryan Haswhip * Oscar Isaac as Marcus * Maggie Lacey as Amanda * Nathalie Paulding as young Amanda * Jewel Donohue as Mother * Tanner Max Cohen as Nate Witt *

Lynn Cohen Lynn Harriette Cohen (née Kay; August 10, 1933 – February 14, 2020) was an American actress known for her roles in film, television and theater. She was especially known for her role as Magda in the HBO series ''Sex and the City'', which she ...

as Sister Beatrice *

as Michael Patrick * Molly Price as Diana's mother * Isabel Keating as Maureen's mother * Mike Slater as young Tom * Anna Moore as Blonde Student * Melissa Heaton student

Reception

''The Life Before Her Eyes'' received a generally negative response; as of May 2019,

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported that 23% of critics had given the film positive reviews, based on 94 reviews – with the consensus being the film is "Despite earnest performances, ''Life Before Her Eyes'' is a confusing, painfully overwrought melodrama."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

reported the film had an average score of 32 out of 100, based on 15 reviews.

Box office

The film opened in limited release on April 18, 2008, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and grossed $20,220 in eight theaters its opening weekend, averaging $2,527 per theater. As of Jun 27–29, 2008, it had a domestic total gross of $303,439, and a production budget of $13 million.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Life Before Her Eyes, The 2007 films 2000s thriller drama films 2007 independent films American thriller drama films Films about school violence Films based on American novels Films shot in Connecticut American independent films Films scored by James Horner 2007 drama films Films directed by Vadim Perelman Magnolia Pictures films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films