The Dead Girl

Five separate (though somewhat related) stories are told via several characters all of whom have some sort of connection to a dead girl. We spend an allotted period of time which each set of characters, and delve a little deeper into their psyches, insecurities and overall human drama and relationships. You guessed it…human drama ensues.

An interesting enough drama — extremely character-driven drama — that boasts many solid performances across its 5 different stories, but one that ultimately didn’t entirely rivet me, and whose seemingly unrelated 5-prong story approach, had me wondering a little too much about their connection, rather than fully concentrating on each piece. That’s not to say that every one of the stories wasn’t surprisingly well-developed enough to engage my attention (and even my emotions, during a couple of them), despite barely registering about 15 minutes of screen-time each, because they were well made, but in the back of my mind, I also kept on wondering about their connections the whole way through (the title cards are a little misleading), until the final story cleared that matter up nicely – although maybe a little too late. In fact, the final story in the movie actually clarifies the 4 that came before it, which might be nice for those who plan on watching the film again (I almost felt like it, just so that I can better integrate myself into the first 4 stories on the second time around), but a little frustrating for those who don’t plan on watching the picture again anytime soon, and have to go back and remember all of the nuances from the first stories, that now mean a lot more knowing their connection to…the dead girl!

And oh yeah, in case you’re like me in thinking that the film’s title assures a horror element to its proceedings, think again, as the film features very little if any violence and even less blood. It’s more about its characters, all played nicely by all involved, particularly Toni Colette as the stranger with a super-mean mom (look for a bush shot to boot), Rose Byrne as a surviving sister and Marcia Gay Harden as a grieving mom (is it me or did she remind you of Dianne Wiest as well?). I guess I must’ve been a little slow up top when watching this movie, as it was only afterwards that I realized that each story was actually about a specific woman (not man) somehow related to this one dead girl. I say that because perhaps deeper character connections might be made by those of the fairer sex while watching this film, and not necessarily by male viewers. I consider myself a man (although not much of one, my penis definitely qualifies me “on paper”) and thought each of the stories were pretty interesting (especially the one called “The Wife”), well-acted and nicely connected in the end. The film did, however, feel a little like MEMENTO in that most of it would likely come together better on the second watch, and also felt a little like a stage play or a made-for-TV flick, that didn’t necessarily require theatrical viewing or release.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian