The Dead Girl (gua.com.my)

Originally published in gua.com.my
18 Feb 2008


by Max Koh

Title:
The Dead Girl

Ratings:
7/10

Cast:
Toni Collette, Brittany Murphy, Marcia Gay Hayden, Rose Byrne, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Giovanni Ribisi, Kerry Washington, Mary Beth Ruth, Piper Laurie and Mary Steenbergen

Genre:
Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Review:
There is a perpetual sadness that hangs over “The Dead Girl”, the second feature film by independent director Karen Moncrieff.

The movie opens with the body of a dead girl (Murphy in one of her most mesmerising performances). However, the focus of the film is not on finding out how the girl died. Instead it examines how lives are irrevocably changed by her death.



Presented through five different stories, the movie offers an unflinching look at how the murder affects the lives of the various female characters, whose relation to the dead girl may not be obvious from the beginning.

As the stories draw you in (helped tremendously by the excellent cast), you can’t help but be affected by the bleakness that dominates their lives and their struggle to break free from it.

In the first story, ‘The Stranger’, Arden (Collette) discovers the body of the murdered girl and overnight becomes a local celebrity. However, she is berated and scorned by her abusive but ailing mother (Laurie in grandma-“Carrie”-mode) who calls her ugly and despises the attention she is getting. Arden meets a stranger (Ribisi) and is attracted to him despite his unhealthy obsession with serial killers. Eventually, she decides to elope with him.



‘The Sister’ revolves around a forensic undergraduate who examines the dead girl’s body and is convinced that it is her sister who has been missing for 15 years. Her mom (Steenbergen), however, refuses to give up on her missing daughter, thus preventing her from having closure and moving on. She becomes dependent on anti-depressants and shuns the interest of a young colleague (Franco). Her mom does not see that she is on the verge of losing her remaining living daughter in a bid to find her dead one.



Mary Beth Hurt is ‘The Wife’ whose relationship with her husband, Carl, is on the verge of a breakdown. He often leaves the house for long periods of time and she is left to pick up his mess. One day, she finds incriminating evidence that could link her husband to the dead girl’s murder.

In ‘The Mother’, we meet the dead girl’s mom, Melora (Hayden). It is easily the most moving story in the film. It has been years since her daughter, Krista, ran away from home, where she became a drug addict and prostitute. To understand her daughter’s life, Melora meets Krista’s roommate, Rosetta (Washington), and eventually learns out about her illegitimate three-year-old granddaughter, Ashley. Melora takes her granddaughter in and promises to love her as she did Krista.



Finally, we meet ‘The Dead Girl’ who turns out to be the most buoyant and ‘alive’ character in the film despite the oppressive circumstances. We follow Krista’s final hours as she finds her way across town to surprise her daughter who is turning three years old the next day.

“The Dead Girl” may be bleak but there are underlying optimistic nuances. ‘The Mother’ gets a second chance by caring for her granddaughter. The forensic sister eventually opens up her heart. And therein lies the irony – it takes a dead girl to revive the lives of others.

Did you know?
This film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Supporting Female (Hurt) at the Independent Spirit Awards last year.