The Lovely Bones (PG)

Starring: Saorise Ronan, Mark Walhberg, Susan Sarandon, Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci
Directed by: Peter Jackson

Adapted from the bestselling book by Alice Sebold and directed by Peter Jackson, the man who brought us the Lord of the Rings, The Lovely Bones comes across on the big screen as a strange blend of not quite gritty reality and bewildering fantasy.

Telling the story of Susie Salmon, a fourteen year old murdered by a neighbour, as she seeks justice and peace for herself and her family, it’s not exactly the lightest subject, especially for a PG certificate. Leaving out the much more graphic details of the book (Susie is raped before being killed for example) may have made an unpalatable subject easier to film, but the decision to give precedent to a lower band age certificate has left the film distant and harder to relate to. By removing the more unsavoury details of the shattering aftermath of the brutal rape and murder of a child, (Whilst Susie’s mother embarks on an affair with the detective leading the case in Sebold’s novel, Jackson merely has her temporarily abandoning her family to pick apples and find herself) Jackson has placed a screen between the story and the audience, shielding them from the raw emotions which made the book so popular.

The scenes in the ‘in-between place’, the place between Heaven and Earth where Susie resides for most of the film, have been universally criticised for their heavy use of CGI (which Time Out refers to as ‘showy’) in a further attempt to avoid facing the intrinsic dark nature of the story. Kate Muir of the Times felt that the almost cartoon feel of the effects was one of the most damaging feature of the film:
‘This silliness clashes irritatingly with the bloody violence of the murder: indeed the leaps from gruesome to fey sometimes drew laughter from the audience.’

Lead actress Saoirse Ronan is wonderfully wide eyed and beguiling throughout, earning her a string of praise from the critics, called ‘remarkable’ by Rolling Stone and ‘captivating’ by the BBC’s Mark Savage. As the murderous Mr Harvey, Stanley Tucci is skin crawlingly off-putting as he points fingers at the Salmon girls whilst scurrying through the Technicolor 70’s suburbs.

The Lovely Bones tries to recreate the message of uplifting hope which the book closes on, but somehow manages to miss the mark. Although the decision to not to directly depict an intensely uncomfortable and horrifying subject matter on screen was no doubt justified, the decision to treat the aftermath of Susie’s death with kid gloves has detracted away from what should have been the ultimate spiritual and earthly peace of Susie and her family come the end of the film. A more courageous stance in concentrating on those left behind rather than scenic vistas of giant beach balls floating on glass like lakes could have created a more personal and accessible portrait of grief rather than a saccharine, almost gimmicky portrayal of the afterlife.
Less in this case, would definitely have been more.



‘infuriatingly coy’ Xan Harris- The Guardian 2/5 stars

‘A Turkey, a pigs ear, a mad cow of a film’- The Mail

‘ it is doubtful we’ll see a more imaginative, courageous film in 2010.’ Empire Magazine4/5 stars