The Life Before Her Eyes

Name: The Life Before Her Eyes
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Released: April 18, 2008
Duration: 90 min
Rating: 38
Cast: Eva Amurri, Evan Rachel Wood, Uma Thurman

2008

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Ratings

See All

7.1

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7.1	Your Score
7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

The Life Before Her Eyes

Now Playing: The Life Before Her Eyes

Movie Details & Credits

Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: April 18, 2008 | R

Starring: Eva Amurri, Evan Rachel Wood, Uma Thurman

Summary: The Life Before Her Eyes is an intense and visually evocative drama about the loss of youth, investigating how a single moment in time can define an entire life. Based on Laura Kasischke's visionary novel, the story hinges on a pivotal confrontation: two high school girls held captive by a gunman and forced to make the terrifying choice asThe Life Before Her Eyes is an intense and visually evocative drama about the loss of youth, investigating how a single moment in time can define an entire life. Based on Laura Kasischke's visionary novel, the story hinges on a pivotal confrontation: two high school girls held captive by a gunman and forced to make the terrifying choice as to who will live and who will die. The Life Before Her Eyes explores the reverberations stemming from the collision of past and future, reality and dream. Life can end in an instant--yet the echoes of possible futures remain inescapable. Moving backward and forward in time, it combines the dramatic intensity of Sophie's Choice with the eerie mystery of a ghost story like The Others. (Magnolia)… Expand

Director: Vadim Perelman

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 90 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Mick LaSalle

Emotionally sophisticated, humane and worth talking about for hours. Read full review

Carina Chocano

Though atmospheric and occasionally suspenseful, its gimmickry keeps it from being transcendent. Read full review

Michael Rechtshaffen

Boasting two terrific performances by Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood as the adult and teenage versions of the same character. Read full review

Ella Taylor

Moviegoers may mistake The Life Before Her Eyes for an unduly long L'Oreal commercial featuring softly lit film stars moving languidly with swinging hair through overbearingly premonitory weather. Read full review

Janice Page

When the big twist is revealed at the end of The Life Before Her Eyes, you might think the only way to appreciate its cleverness is to see the film again. I did that. It didn't help. Read full review

J.R. Jones

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 foreboding and murky psychological drama. Read full review

Joe Neumaier

What this heavy-handed film mainly has to endure is a clunky story structure and an ending that wasn't original when it was seen four decades ago on "The Twilight Zone." Read full review

SEE ALL 25 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

Richard.

May 4, 2008

The critics could not be more wrong. This is the most profound and emotional film of the year so far. It's sad that many people will not see it based on the copycat critics reviews.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

rainbowchaser

Dec 6, 2018

Imaginatively constructed film, excellent plot and an ending that is suspenseful and well acted. Supernatural thriller with a credible storyline that answers the question "what if I had to choose?

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

kaili098

Aug 24, 2013

Yes, this movie is definitely the best thriller I've seen so far. It is very emotional and profound, and I like the fact the movie reflects on the adulthood messed up by a psychological drama.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Brynhotness

Apr 24, 2008

I thought this movie was phenomenal and i watched some of this movie was shot on the street right next to mine and i think all fo the actors and actresses did a teriffic job!!!!!!!!

1 of 1 users found this helpful

ChadS.

May 2, 2008

When the good girl met the bad girl in Catherine Hardwicke's "Thirteen", the bad girl exerted her will on the good girl, and the good girl became bad. The good girl was played by Evan Rachel Wood. This time, in "The Life Before Her Eyes", she's the bad girl, who meets a good girl, When the good girl met the bad girl in Catherine Hardwicke's "Thirteen", the bad girl exerted her will on the good girl, and the good girl became bad. The good girl was played by Evan Rachel Wood. This time, in "The Life Before Her Eyes", she's the bad girl, who meets a good girl, and she becomes a good girl, too. The good girl is played by Eva Amurri. Diana McFee(Uma Thurman) can thank Maureen for the woman she is today. But where is Maureen? The last time we saw her, she was in a high school girls' bathroom with her best friend and the gunman. Since "The Life Before Her Eyes" predicates itself as a sort of "Donnie Darko" for women, Maureen's fate isn't wholly determinisitic, because the past is present, the past is fluid, as Diana rewrites her history, her husband and child's history, and especially, Maureen's history from a contemporary epoch(the weeks leading up to the fifteenth anniversary of the massacre) that runs parallel to the past. Like Alejandro Agresti's "The Lake House", this "My So-Called Elephant" is sci-fi for women who don't like sci-fi.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful

Enrique

May 4, 2008

Barely convincing. Uma Thurmann is fine but the script is too contrived. A big disappointment.

0 of 1 users found this helpful

PaulB.

Apr 20, 2008

Uma Thurman continues her losing streak in a poorly-constructed script punctuated with ridiculous lines such as, "I don't know about you but I could use some soup!"

0 of 1 users found this helpful

SEE ALL 7 REVIEWS