Lizzie (2018) Trailer
Synopsis
Lizzie is sort of a slasher/thriller film portraying the actual events of Lizzie Borden and a series of trials accusing her of murdering her father and stepmother in 1892. The movie was recently released, in 2018, and attracted an audience with a heavy emphasis on psychological thrills and big names Kristen Stewart and Chloe Sevigny. Lizzie, Sevigny, is a 32 year old woman living in Massachusetts with her father, stepmother, and sister, and there it becomes clear very early on that her father is abusive and extremely controlling. The family brings in a maid named Bridget Sullivan, Stewart, and Lizzie quickly forms a close relationship with her. The relationship with Bridget seems as an escape to Lizzie as opposed to her commandeering parents. The film becomes quite disturbing as Lizzie learns that her stepmother will acquire her father’s namesake instead of her and her sister, and the audience is shown the violent and abusive nature of her father. The relationship with Bridget and Lizzie becomes romantic, and Lizzie’s father forbids this. After another thrilling series of events, Lizzie’s father and stepmother are found bludgeoned with an axe, and Lizzie is charged with the murders and sent to jail. The film reveals that Lizzie and Bridget did, in fact, plan to murder Lizzie’s parents, but due to Bridget’s fear and inability to carry it out, Lizzie ultimately murdered them both with an axe. Lizzie ends up being acquitted from the murders, but news of what had happened was inescapable, and Lizzie lives the rest of her life alone as Bridget chose to leave her. The director of Lizzie, Craig William Macneill, utilizes techniques to make the movie psychologically horrifying in order to make the film enticing. This, whether intentional or a by-product, gives the audience a serious feeling of empathy for Lizzie, particularly when Lizzie is served her pet pigeons roasted for dinner, or when her father sexually assaults Bridget. Also, as many historical tales do in early American times, the film juggles themes of patriarchy and can become quite infuriating when thinking about how Lizzie was being oppressed. True to being a thriller, the tone of the movie is constant anticipation, and a tense-ness as if you were in that family home, executed by everyone especially the acting and cameramen.
Critical Appraisal
The 2018 adaptation of the Lizzie Borden story directed by Craig Macneil is a historical piece based on the 1892 murders of the Borden family, specifically Lizzie’s father and stepmother. The film depicts the less than perfect life that Lizzie leads and showcases the family difficulties. These difficulties include keeping Lizzie from obtaining her wealth after her father passes on, living with no lighting and plumbing despite having access to it, being a bit older and still living at home and the actions her father took without consulting or caring for her thoughts and feelings. Yet, multiple aspects of the film are left in question of the historical accuracy. That being said, the question of Lizzie’s sexuality and her personal romantic relationships are brought to mind. The 2018 film depicts Lizzie to have a Lesbian relationship with the families maid alongside a non consensual relationship of the maid and father. The discovery of said romantic relationship is said to have caused Mr. Borden to murder Lizzie’s pigeons and cook them for the families dinner. While all moves would indicate an anger in Lizzie that could cause murderous tendencies, the historical accuracy is still in question. While the murder was never truly solved and Lizzie later died of pneumonia, it is commonly believed that Lizzie did in-fact murder her father and step mother due to many disagreements in their household. The biggest difference between the common Lizzie Borden story and that of the 2018 film adaptation would be the romantic relationship that Lizzie held with Maggie. All thoughts considered, the movie did a great job showcasing the history of the Lizzie borden story and can be considered a great source of historical information. A review written by notorious Roger Ebert states in relation to the romantic interest of the movie, “Stewart has the smaller role in “Lizzie,” but she dominates the screen, without any effort or pushing. The two actresses work well together, though, creating a palpable sense of desire, and there are some nice touches like the two women handing love notes to one another as they pass on the stairs, afraid to speak out loud in a hostile environment. But the script shovels in so much else – shady finances, pigeon murder, evil stepmothers – that “forbidden lesbian love” becomes just one more item on a very long list.”. (Ebert, R. (2018, September 18). Roger Ebert. Retrieved March 21, 2021, from https://www.rogerebert.com/). He comments on the unnecessary need for the romantic relationship as it dilutes the focus of the Lizzie Borden story.
Relevant Readings
Joseph Conforti’s book gives a wonderful timeline of the Borden murders. He also emphasizes the “mystery” around the horrific killings and from what I can tell this is where the movie Lizzie speculates the relationship between Lizzie and Bridget comes from. Conforti hints to the murderer needing several outfits, an accomplice, or perhaps was nude. This is evident in the film as both Lizzie and Bridget did strip down to commit the murders. Bridget could not go through with it so Lizzie stepped in.
Lizzie and Bridget’s relationship is also just speculation as well as the abuse by Mr. Borden. However, the filmmaker uses this forbidden relationship as motive for the women to commit the murders. Given the era, and women’s lack of autonomy, I expect there would not be a lot of evidence confirming this relationship.
The book aligns with several scenes in the movie, such as, Bridget washing the windows and vomiting. The movie attributes her weak stomach to the murder but the book hints toward food poisoning from Mr. Borden’s frugal spending. Again, this shows the liberties the filmmaker took with the historical facts in framing or editing them in a different context.
Conforti, Joseph A. Lizzie Borden on Trial: Murder, Ethnicity, and Gender. University Press of Kansas, 2015. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/book/39129.
I also found newspaper articles depicting the murders just days after they were committed.
The New York Herald, August 5, 1892
This newspaper suspects Lizzie as the possible murder and finds it very suspicious that neither her nor Bridget “Maggie” heard the murders take place. The article also references the murderer as “he” but headlines with “Suspecting the Daughter Lizzie”. In this article Bridget is referenced to cleaning the windows on the third floor with the help of Lizzie and that differs from the movie.
There are also uploads and articles about Lizzie Borden’s arrest on the internet today which can be found by clicking on this link https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-lizzie-borden/selected-articles. It shows real newspaper articles from leading up to her arrest to her trial. Here is one example of the articles that was found on this website that is pretty interesting.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91068084/1893-06-16/ed-1/seq-3/