Lizzie Review

I was eagerly awaiting the release of this movie in the movie theater because this was one of those rare movies that I actually wanted to go see in the theater when to my surprise one night when looking for a movie to watch, because as of late HBO has been lackluster on the Saturday night movies, I found this one. Skipping the movie theater release that was supposed to have, it seemed like this movie went straight to DVD release, or my little theater just decided to not play it. Either way, I rented this movie and went in with high expectations. Keep reading to see if my super high expectations were met.

Lizzie is another telling of the famous Lizzie Borden, played this time by Chloe Sevigny, who murdered her family and got away with it. This is different than the other Lizzie movies because it shows a different motivation that Lizzie had for murdering her family. While this movie still showed how brutal Lizzie’s father was, the “spells”, which were really seizures, that Lizzie suffered from, and the money situation, it also showed a somewhat love story between Lizzie and the maid that was hired to help care for the house Bridget, played by Kristen Stewart. This movie focused heavily on the relationship between Lizzie and Bridget which was more than platonic and at that time, which was 1892, was highly inappropriate. While most other movies about Lizzie Border focus on the main trial where she gets away with it all. This movie focused on they why. Why did she do what she did. What motivated Lizzie to kill both her father and her step-mother and in this move the answer is Bridget. After being discovered together, Bridget is being forced to leave as Lizzie is just condemned as sick and Lizzie just isn’t having it. That’s where she comes up with the plan to create the perfect murder in hopes that she can have her happily ever after with Bridget.

Out of all the Lizzie Borden movies that I watched, I have to say that this is my favorite. The fact that it didn’t concentrate highly on the trial, but on the motive was interesting as most of the movies I’ve watched will concentrate on the trial making it like an episode of Law and Order. This movie was different though. It showed actual motive for what may or may not be true. No one will ever know because Lizzie Borden was never convicted because a lady of her caliber would never be able to do such a thing. That being said, I would have thought that the brutality of Lizzie’s father would have been enough motive, but the fact that they added in a love story between Lizzie and Bridget was a different twist. Did it really happen? No one will ever know because after the trial both women went their own ways as Bridget refused to stay with Lizzie. Did they really have a relationship? This was an interesting take on the whole story and brought a new perspective into a story that has been told many times and will probably continue to be told even more times.

I have to say that not being the biggest fans of Chloe Sevigny or Kristen Stewart, that I thought the acting in this movie was just phenomenal and made me respect these two actress a hell of a lot more. Without them this movie would have just been horrible, but they were both right for the roles that they played and it made the movie that much more interesting. Since they made this into a love story type of thing, the fact that both actresses had a great amount of chemistry only helped the movie. I have to say that a big kudos goes out to Kristen Stewart who has come a hell of a long way from those Twilight movies and has turned into a fine actress.

Overall I give this movie a 4.5 out of 5.

If you’re interested in hearing about the tale of Lizzie Borden again, this is one of the best movies out there to watch. Unlike the other movies, it doesn’t feel like an episode of Law and Order as it concentrates more on the actual motive behind the killings rather than the trial itself. It tells a tragic love story between Lizzie and Bridget and gives you a scope of how far the brutality of Lizzie’s father reached. I will say that this movie is a little gratuitous at times as it shows the actual killing of both Lizzie’s step-mother and father as well as a sex scene between Lizzie and Bridget. While there was only one sex scene, I have to say that I think the tone of this movie should have matched the 1892 time period feel. I think that the sex scene should have been edited out and everything else that was shown between Lizzie and Bridget should have been left in to match the setting of the movie. It still showed a story of how much these two people cared for one another and it didn’t need a sex scene to actually show the audience this feeling. If the audience couldn’t tell that there was something going on between these two that was more than platonic then there was something wrong. Other than that the movie was an interesting one and shouldn’t be missed.