Rating: MMM

Review of Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the 2002 best-selling novel of the same name, by Alice Sebold. The Lovely Bones tells the story of 14-year-old Susie Salmon who watches her family and friends from heaven after her grisly murder.

Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Saiorse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon
Running time: 135 mins

Based on Alice Sebold’s bestselling novel of the same name, Peter Jackson’s latest film sees Saiorse Ronan (Atonement) as Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl who is raped and murdered by a neighbour (Stanley Tucci) in January of 1973. The Lovely Bones is a film of two parts, one presenting the Salmon family mourning Susie and coming to terms with the trauma of her death; the other is an exploration of Susie’s life after death, in her ‘Inbetween’.

In The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson really succeeds is in his direction of some very tightly constructed scenes, in particular where Susie’s sister Lindsey breaks into murderer Mr Harvey’s house – the scene is brilliantly claustrophobic, tense and with a tightly drawn out sense of suspense. The acting is also very good – Saiorse Ronan builds on her already solid reputation (highly praised for her excellent performance in Joe Wright’s Atonement) and is every inch convincing in her role as Susie – the only problems come in scenes which are in themselves problematic, either in terms of tone or emotional and narrative momentum. Mark Wahlberg does well, as does Susan Sarandon in a role that seems rather incongruous at times with the overall tone of the film.

And tone is perhaps one of the major problems with The Lovely Bones – it doesn’t know what kind of film it wants to be. It seems to be part melodrama, part grisly murder tale whereas some sunnier scenes are played out to an obviously comedic soundtrack – sadly Jackson fails to marry scenes together to make a whole film that really works. In comparison, the source novel maintains a wonderful tension between Susie, her family and other minor characters and several sub-plots that inform the main story. Where in the novel there is gently tragic emotion balanced with a more distanced perspective, the film fails to accomplish anything similar. For example, the film’s ‘emotional crescendo’ scene where Susie meets her murderer’s fellow victims in the afterlife is completely void of the emotional anchor it needs. Jackson pitches the scene (and its point in the film) completely wrong  – the audience have no emotional connection with the other victims, so what should be a key moment fails entirely, becoming anti-climactic as a result.

Another problem is the film’s under developed characters which lack the depth needed for such a potentially emotional story. Again, Sebold’s novel succeeds admirably with characterisation, pushing main and periphary characters to be sympathetic and believable. Admittedly the film is constrained by time, but less time spent with Susie wandering around a strange (albeit visually arresting) afterlife would be well spent developing the family characters (particularly Lindsey, who becomes the novel’s heart) who are in fact key to the emotional denouement.

The Lovely Bones is in parts entertaining, interesting and disappointing. There are enough good elements to make it enjoyable and worth watching, but it is likely to leave those unfamiliar with the novel with a bad taste in their mouths.

Rating: MMM