The Lovely Bones Is A Story Of Grief And Supreme Justice. The Lovely Bones (2009): The Plot Of The Film, Detailed Content, Meaning, Explanation Of The Ending, Similar Paintings.
Genre: Fantasy, Thriller, Drama, Crime, Detective
Year of production: 2009
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Actors: Saoirse Ronan, Stanley Tucci, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz
tagline: “The story of life and everything that follows it…”
Awards and Nominations: The film was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones is based on the novel of the same name by Alice Sebold. The tragic but touching story was transferred to the screen by the director quite carefully.
The point of The Lovely Bones is to treat life as if you only live one day. This story of grief and pain is presented very gently. She, oddly enough, leaves a light residue. And it makes you think about a lot.
What is the movie about
Brief description of the content of the movie “The Lovely Bones”. 1973, USA, Pennsylvania. A young girl named Susie Salmon lives the life of a typical schoolgirl – studying, caring for the younger ones, dreaming of going to college.
Saoirse Ronan played the role of Susie Salmon. Frame from the film.
One day, she falls in love with each other, but their sweet flirtation with Ray is not destined to develop into something more – one terrible sunny day, the girl is raped and killed by her neighbor, the strange Mr. Garvey. He diligently hides the girl’s body in a safe in his lair.
Susie’s soul must go to heaven, but she does not want to leave her relatives, to whom she was very attached during her lifetime. Therefore, she finds herself in an intermediate place – a kind of “personal paradise”, from which she watches everything that happens at home.
She sees how the investigation of her case comes to a standstill, how they can not find her body, how her killer lives peacefully at large, and how her family is trying to cope with the pain of loss and grief.
Susie also learns that she was not the first victim of a maniac, and is very worried about her sister Lindsey – the girl is obsessed with the idea of capturing Garvey, who, in turn, begins to hunt for her.
One day, Lindsey breaks into Garvey’s house and steals his diary, in which he details all his bloody “exploits”. The exposed maniac hurriedly leaves the city and tries to get rid of the safe with Susie’s body. Garvey notices, but does not attach much importance to his manipulations …
Ending explanation
Closer to the finale, Suzy meets in her personal paradise with the souls of other victims of Garvey, and they offer her to go with them to the “common” paradise. Suzy accepts this offer, however, having cast a last look at her hometown, she sees her beloved Ray in the company of another girl.
Susie is well aware that her earthly life is over, but she really wants to finally taste her sweetness. She moves into the body of Ray’s new lover and he kisses her. After that, Suzy leaves the world of the living forever. The family finally “lets go” of her (just like Suzy herself “lets go” of her loved ones).
The role of Mr. Garvey was played by Stanley Tucci. Frame from the film.
At the end of the film, Mr. Garvey, who has escaped justice, settles in another city. Having spotted a new victim, he begins to hunt for her, but an icicle falls on his head and he dies, falling from a cliff.
The ending of the movie “The Lovely Bones” left many viewers bewildered. However, the end of this picture should have been just that. The fact is that the author of the novel herself encountered a maniac in her youth, but, fortunately, she was lucky to stay alive. In her case, a neighbor was brought to justice, but later it turned out that he was not guilty. That is, the real criminal remained at large.
In their analysis, viewers offer the following explanation for the ending: it is simply impossible to punish Harvey on the ground. The maniac was waiting for a truly textbook ending: he thought that he would throw the body of his next victim into the cliff, but he himself ended up there.
There is another interpretation of the meaning of the ending of the movie “The Lovely Bones”. The answer is that if Garvey were brought to justice, then there would be a trial in which all the relatives of the girls he killed would have to take part. That is, old wounds would open, already fused bones would break – after all, even the fact that the killer suffered a well-deserved punishment would not bring the girls back to life.
“Vengeance is mine and Az will repay.” Alice Sebold “gives” the pedophile maniac into the hands of God, who administers his own justice. The souls of the innocent (in fact, all the girls he killed, if not martyrs, then passion-bearers) go to heaven, and their families, who received such a terrible and tragic experience, continue to live – already a little differently than they lived before …
Susie is the girl-who-was-to-live. However, she died. And, unfortunately, there are many girls like her. One of the final phrases is: “I wish you to live happily ever after.” These words are spoken by a girl who will never live happily ever after. It is noteworthy that only she knows the real price of life …
Susie’s body was never found. However, the essence of the film is not limited to “crime and punishment”. Its meaning is how important it is to love your loved ones – and this life itself.
Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg as Jack and Abigail Salmon. Frame from the film.
The meaning of the film
In the center of the plot is a girl killed by a maniac, and watching the future life of her family. For her relatives, life was divided into “before” and “after”. All her relatives continue to live while a fat bloody point is put in the life of young Suzy.
The father, dissatisfied with the way the investigation is going, tries to find the killer of his daughter himself. The mother moves away from the family and eventually betrays her. Brother and sister understand everything, but they cannot come to terms with the loss. Grandmother is trying to do something to help and save the family, which is crumbling like a sand castle.
Through the days, months, years, the grief-stricken family floats like a small wooden boat, which is tossed from side to side by the waves of the domestic ocean.
The Lovely Bones is almost plotless. And yet it is a philosophical film. It’s not even about the dead girl at all. Its meaning is to tell about ordinary human feelings, which are sometimes very difficult to cope with – and about the consequences that these feelings can lead to.
Jackson’s film is interesting in how two worlds are intertwined – the real world of one-story America of the seventies, in which a bloody thriller unfolds, is surprisingly combined with an illusory, otherworldly world.
Susan Sarandon as Grandma Lynn. Frame from the film.
With the help of this symbolic antagonism, the hidden meaning of both the picture and the book is revealed. And the main idea sounds like this: there is no justice on earth and cannot be. Because if there was justice, children would not die and families would not collapse. And you should not look for it – it will only get worse, because unexposed bitterness destroys the soul, ruins relationships. However, there is divine justice, from which no one has yet escaped.
The meaning of the name
At first glance, the meaning of the name lies on the surface. However, the point here is not only in the never found body of Susie. The expression “Lovely bones” is used in a figurative sense.
In the Salmon family, far from everything was smooth – all its members were very fragile bones of one skeleton, ready to break at any moment. No matter how scary it sounds, they became a real family only after Suzy’s death – that is, after each of them got to the very bottom of their personal hell and experienced this grief.
By the way, “The Lovely Bones” is also translated as “Kindred Ties”, although the name “Lovely Bones” looks more authentic. Its meaning is that Susie’s death held them together, they became one skeleton.
Similar films
Here are a few films that are similar to The Lovely Bones in terms of atmosphere and meaning:
- “Where Dreams May Come” (USA, New Zealand, 1998). One day, Chris dies in a car accident and goes to heaven. His wife, in despair, commits suicide and ends up in hell. Chris, who does not like heaven without her, goes on a long journey.
- “Ghost” (USA, 1990). Sam and Molly could live happily ever after, only death separated them – the young man died. Once in another world, he learned about the threat looming over Molly, and decided to save her – only it turned out to be too difficult.
- “Invisible” (USA, Sweden, South Africa, 2007). Nick died suddenly. He could not come to terms with this and was lost between the worlds.
