Perfect Sisters

Perfect Sisters
Directed by Stanley M. Brooks
Produced by Juliette Hagopian
Damian Ganczewski
Screenplay by Fab Filippo
Adam Till
Based on The Class Project: How to Kill a Mother
by Bob Mitchell
Starring
Music by Carmen Rizzo
Cinematography Stéphanie Weber Biron
Edited by Robin Katz
Production
company
Julijette
Distributed by Gravitas Ventures
Release date
  • April 11, 2014 (2014-04-11) (limited release)
[1]
Running time
 98 minutes[2]
Country Canada
Language English

Perfect Sisters (released in the UK as Deadly Sisters)[3] is a 2014 Canadian crime drama film directed by Stanley M. Brooks. It stars Abigail Breslin and Georgie Henley. The film was released on April 11, 2014, and was based on the novel The Class Project: How to Kill a Mother, which itself was based on the real-life murder of Linda Andersen.

Plot

Sandra Andersen (Abigail Breslin) and her younger sister by one year, Beth (Georgie Henley), and their younger brother, seven-year-old Bobby (Gabe Steidl), live with their alcoholic forty-four-year-old mother Linda (Mira Sorvino).

Linda, every now and again, has boyfriends, who are usually abusive towards her and her children.

Sandra now is a senior in high school and Beth is a junior and they can't take Linda and her alcoholism. They plot to kill their mother, and plan to live with their friends after they kill her because they will get their mother's life insurance money.

They tell their friends Justin and Ashley to make reservations at their favorite restaurant while Sandra and Beth get Linda intoxicated, drug her and later drown her in their apartment bathtub.

Once they do all of this, Sandra feels guilty while Beth feels excited. Beth then convinces her that everything is going to be better with their mother dead.

The two are sent to live with their aunt, and Bobby is sent to live with his father. No one thinks that Sandra and Beth have anything to do with their mother's death, as everyone just thinks that she drowned in her bathtub while being drunk and on drugs.

Sandra and Beth begin to get popular at school after telling their friends that they killed their mother, and no one at school even thinks about reporting them.

An older friend of Sandra's begins to believe that Sandra and Beth had something to do with it after Sandra tells him that their mother's death might not have been an accident. He goes to the police and they tell him to wear a wire, pick Sandra up and see if he can find out more about the incident.

After she tells him the truth, Sandra and Beth get interviewed by police and Beth remains calm while Sandra has a meltdown. When the police find all the evidence to prove that Sandra and Beth killed Linda, the two get sentenced to ten years in prison and can have no contact with one another.

Cast

  • Abigail Breslin as Sandra Andersen and Rachael Henley as young Sandra: The elder sister. She is pretty and blonde, but she is smarter than she looks. She may be pretty, but deep down, she is capable of murder.
  • Georgie Henley as Elizabeth "Beth" Andersen and Laura Henley as young Beth: The younger sister. She is a goth, she dyed her hair black, and acts dark and broody.
  • Mira Sorvino as Linda Andersen: The alcoholic mother of Sandra, Beth, and Bobby. She typically dates men who are alcoholics like herself, who are often abusive towards her children.
  • James Russo as Steve Bowman: The abusive, alcoholic, boyfriend of Linda.
  • Rusty Schwimmer as Aunt Martha: Linda's rich elder sister.
  • Zoë Belkin as Ashley: Sandra's popular best friend.
  • Jeffrey Ballard as Justin Ross: Beth's boyfriend.
  • Stephan James as Donny: Sandra's "sort of" boyfriend.
  • Zak Santiago as Detective Santiago Gates
  • Spencer Breslin as Cousin Derek: Sandra, Beth, and Bobby's stoner cousin and Martha's son.
  • Gabe Steidl as Bobby Andersen: Sandra and Beth's little brother.

Controversy

The film was scrutinized by the Toronto community for portraying the teenage murderers through a far too sympathetic lens.[4][5] Author and journalist Bob Mitchel stated, "I don't think the movie dealt with how cold-blooded and calculating they were", in an interview about the theater adaptation of his book.[6]

Reception

The film received generally mixed reviews with a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 44% rating on Metacritic based on eight reviews. Dennis Harvey of Variety criticized the film for being "ineffectual and cartoonish", and compared it unfavorably to the similarly-themed 1994 film Heavenly Creatures.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Lauren Alvarez (February 11, 2014). "Abigail Breslin's 'Perfect Sisters' Gets Release Date". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Perfect Sisters". Gravitas Ventures. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Deadly Sisters [DVD]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  4. ↑ Linda Barnard (March 11, 2014). "Perfect Sisters, based on notorious 'Bathtub Girls' case: watch the trailer". Toronto Star. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  5. ↑ Natalie Paddon (April 8, 2014). "Chilling tale of the Perfect Sisters hits the big screen". Brant News. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  6. ↑ Allison Jones (April 14, 2014). "Perfect Sisters based on true Canadian story". The Chronicle Herald. Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Canadian Press. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  7. ↑ Dennis Harvey (April 11, 2014). "Film Review: 'Perfect Sisters'". Variety. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
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