A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne

I've never witnessed a film like this. From the acting to the soundtrack it was all more than enough to reduce you to tears.

That's a fine movie, not because of its true story, which is deeply saddening all by itself, but by the good job the actors do. That's an almost rare exception, because most of the time, that's the other way around.

Despite being a true story, the writers did not use all its potentials, did a weak job in the first place by writing the production as a movie around 93 minutes with big gaps in cohesion. This should have been made as a TV series around 4-5 episodes, which would have helped to better show necessary and required developments and various intrications to the case, including the last hours and days of Caroline Byrne.

The actors' performances is good enough for the production; it is just that it heavily lacks good screenplay and storyline with enough descriptive plots to help and enlighten viewers in having a more immersive and deeper experience into this tragic story and its portrayal.

Like many others, first and foremost, watched it because of Cariba Heine. She is a very good and beautiful actress, but wasn't given the opportunity to truly shine and express herself in this movie.

A shame coupled with sad regrets...

The true-crime-reenactment film industry is so saturated you could throw a rock blindfolded and hit a hundred episodes. Yet this one kept my interest from start to finish.

It raised many tantalizing threads and what-if's: Was Caroline depressed enough to take her own life, or too codependent to end an abusive relationship? Was Wood such a controlling monster he was capable of murder? Was Caroline the "girl who knew too much"?

Cariba Heine endowed the role of Caroline with enough emotion and skill to be more than just a blonde bimbo who made bad choices in life. David Lyons was so convincing as the repugnant Wood I hope he didn't get typecast as the perennial villain.

The supporting cast was equally strong, especially the investigators who relentlessly pursued the case year after year.

An engrossing portrayal of justice denied.

This movie did manage to keep my interest. I guess the acting was fine and the fact the story is true helped. However it was so heavy-handed and over-directed. Lots of odd camera angles and slow motion. And waaayyy to much music. It's as if they did not trust the actors to carry the scenes. It seems a minute did not go by without overly dramatic music. Plus there were some songs that were really bad.

This is definitely one of the best made for TV films I've seen. I'm a huge fan of Cariba Heine, which is the main reason I watched this movie and I'm so glad I did. All of the actors were spectacular, and the storyline was intriguing and exciting. I particularly liked the flashback scenes.

Overall I think the entire movie is brilliant. It even made me cry a couple of times! I'm very interested in the Caroline Byrne case now and I truly hope Cariba's portrayal of her did the real Caroline justice.

Just a warning that this movie does contain sex scenes and some language. However, it's still a must-watch! I can't look at David Lyons (who plays Gordon Wood) the same after watching this movie. It also may help if you research the Caroline Byrne court case a bit before watching. I did and it made the experience much better.