The Lovely Bones (2009)
“My name is Salmon, like the fish.”
Does anyone else find that opening narration line of the Lovely Bones irritating? If a little girl who has been abducted, molested, and murdered is narrating her story, why would she say so monotonously, “My name is Salmon, like the fish”? Obviously, the movie thought it was deep and powerful. The line is repeated twice.
Saoirse Ronan stars as the victim of the worst crime imaginable. When the movie starts, she’s already dead and looking down at the survivors in her world, including her perpetrator, Stanley Tucci. Her family, Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, and Susan Sarandon, are in various stages of grief. Saoirse has been reported missing, but her body has not yet been found and her attacker has not been identified. Flashbacks and the present timeline are interspersed, all with her narration carrying the story.
Stanley Tucci was a big frontrunner at the Oscars for his performance as the creepy kidnapper. While, yes, he was creepy, I don’t understand why this role was singled out and given such a high honor. He played a devoted and loving husband in Julie & Julia, a businessman with an alter ego in Shall We Dance, and a by-the-book security commissioner in The Terminal, but this one-dimensional villain was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Once again, the Academy never fails to disappoint me.
I didn’t like the structure of the film, but it was trying to stay faithful to the original novel. The dead girl’s narration takes the suspense out of the story. It also constantly reminds the audience that they are watching a fictitious story; it’s as distracting as seeing the boom mike at the top of the frame. The Lovely Bones is intended to upset the audience and show the destruction of a family who has to live through such a terrible tragedy. No one needs to be shown this. No one needs to be told that the abduction, rape, and murder of a little girl is monstrous. It’s damaging and in fact glorifies the crime by creating a novel and film with such a detailed depiction. There is one credit I will give the film, and director Peter Jackson in particular: in the novel, the rape is graphic. In the film, it is not shown at all. Jackson believed it would be unnecessary for the audience to watch and traumatizing to Saoirse to participate in. It’s about time someone thought of the emotional damage done to child actors! So, if you do decide to rent this movie, you can rest assured you won’t have to see any rape scene.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violent and upsetting scenes involving a child, I wouldn’t let my kids watch it.
More Susan Sarandon movies here!
Does anyone else find that opening narration line of the Lovely Bones irritating? If a little girl who has been abducted, molested, and murdered is narrating her story, why would she say so monotonously, “My name is Salmon, like the fish”? Obviously, the movie thought it was deep and powerful. The line is repeated twice.
Saoirse Ronan stars as the victim of the worst crime imaginable. When the movie starts, she’s already dead and looking down at the survivors in her world, including her perpetrator, Stanley Tucci. Her family, Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, and Susan Sarandon, are in various stages of grief. Saoirse has been reported missing, but her body has not yet been found and her attacker has not been identified. Flashbacks and the present timeline are interspersed, all with her narration carrying the story.
Stanley Tucci was a big frontrunner at the Oscars for his performance as the creepy kidnapper. While, yes, he was creepy, I don’t understand why this role was singled out and given such a high honor. He played a devoted and loving husband in Julie & Julia, a businessman with an alter ego in Shall We Dance, and a by-the-book security commissioner in The Terminal, but this one-dimensional villain was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Once again, the Academy never fails to disappoint me.
I didn’t like the structure of the film, but it was trying to stay faithful to the original novel. The dead girl’s narration takes the suspense out of the story. It also constantly reminds the audience that they are watching a fictitious story; it’s as distracting as seeing the boom mike at the top of the frame. The Lovely Bones is intended to upset the audience and show the destruction of a family who has to live through such a terrible tragedy. No one needs to be shown this. No one needs to be told that the abduction, rape, and murder of a little girl is monstrous. It’s damaging and in fact glorifies the crime by creating a novel and film with such a detailed depiction. There is one credit I will give the film, and director Peter Jackson in particular: in the novel, the rape is graphic. In the film, it is not shown at all. Jackson believed it would be unnecessary for the audience to watch and traumatizing to Saoirse to participate in. It’s about time someone thought of the emotional damage done to child actors! So, if you do decide to rent this movie, you can rest assured you won’t have to see any rape scene.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violent and upsetting scenes involving a child, I wouldn’t let my kids watch it.
More Susan Sarandon movies here!