Laurie Viets

I was moved by this film. Lizzie Borden is a Mystery. Period. Murder is a complicated and serious action, quite possibly one for which there is no forgiveness, acceptance, or justification. So I am going to call Lizzie's outrageous act an act of self-defense, not against her parents, per se, but rather against the oppressive patriarchal culture that enslaved, robbed, raped and "killed" women. Instead of accusing and abhorring her abomination, I am thanking her and all the people who brought Lizzie to life and made her relevant. I am probably some kind of feminist, but also, I was born not too far away from Fall Rivers. The performances are tight and restrained, and the intimated underlying passions are palpably searing. Stewart's Bridgett is consistent with the culture of Service, and her relationship with Sevigny's Lizzie is portrayed with electric sensitivity. I cannot think of an adjective great enough to describe Sevigny's Lizzie. Mr. Borden is a lot like what I remember of my N.E. male kin (though I don't know about rape). The dysfunctional N.E. Borden family shares many roots with my own dysfunctional N.E. family. A lot more could have been said about Mrs. Borden, her relationship with Lizzie, and her role in the family dynamics. I had no trouble believing any of it. I might believe any of many motivations for killing her parents - acquiring money from inheritance and/or feeling trapped, especially, among them; the film implies, however, that Lizzie asserts a certain rebellious independence and is not EXACTLY a captive thrall to Mr. and Mrs. Borden. According to the film, it is not until Bridgett arrives that things start to go awry. Then there is the suggestion that she is being disinherited. I think the last straw, however - the one that compels her to act in self-defense - is finding that her father is planning to have her institutionalized. (This, at the times, was a fate worse than death.) Of course the act is more than a simple act of self-defense; to hack one parent to a gory death is one thing, but to hack another (albeit a stepmother) in the same way 90 minutes later??? Yep, a Mystery. No apologies in this film. If you are into Mysteries, this is a must-see.