The Life Before Her Eyes (R, 2008)

In THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES, Uma Thurman plays Diana McPhee, a woman still troubled by an earth-shattering event that took place 15 years ago. In high school, after hearing a fellow student rampage through the halls shooting everything -- and everyone -- in sight, Diana (played at 17 by Evan Rachel Wood) and her best friend Maureen (Eva Amurri) wound up stranded with him in the bathroom, faced with an impossible choice: Who should he kill? Told in a series of flashbacks, the movie, based on Laura Kasischke's novel, traces the weeks leading up to that moment, as the girls negotiate a best friendship that's beginning to show signs of strain. Back in the present, Diana is jumpy and tentative -- a shadow of her former self. No matter how she examines her past, it all culminates in that pivotal decision, one that makes her question her seemingly happy existence with her doting husband and feisty daughter. And with the 15-year anniversary of that horrible day fast approaching, her remembrances reach a fevered pitch.

Under the direction of Vadim Perelman, the film plays like a drama tinged with mystery, maybe even the macabre. The nuns in their habits at Diana's daughter's school seem otherwordly; the leaves on the trees seem strangely crisp-edged. Suspenseful and at times morbid, the tone serves the story well enough, teasing out answers to most viewers' questions until pretty much the last minute.

But Perelman seems a little too enamored with imagery; when so much is made portentous, the impact, when you finally figure out what's happening, is actually muted. The flashbacks seem contrived; it would have been better to have allowed the story to unfurl as it happened. And just what is he trying to say with the surprise twist in the end? But there's no stopping Wood, who plays troubled teenage Diana like the expert she's become. Amurri acquits herself nicely as well, doing well with a role that could easily have been forgettable. And Thurman? She makes a commendable effort, but in the end, the film's simply too muddled to be appreciated fully.

Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Director: Vadim Perelman
Cast: Eva Amurri, Evan Rachel Wood, Uma Thurman
Genre: Drama
Run time: 90 minutes
Theatrical release: April 18, 2008
DVD release: August 19, 2008
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: violent and disturbing content, language and brief drug use.