Love You to Death

This TV docudrama based on the lives of Dee Dee and Gypsy Blanchard was at times very difficult to watch. The abuse from the mother, Camille (Marcia Gay Harden), was frightening. She was very scary and relentlessly in control. And Harden was amazing as always. Emily Skeggs (Esme) did the best she could with what she had and Tate Donovan was wasted, which was too bad. What was missing in this movie was some kind of revelation as to why people suffer from Munchhausen Syndrome. It only shows the effect on Esme. Having a look inside the character of Camille might have made this a little more interesting. While definitely not a major motion picture, it was entertaining.

Ok I I've heard about this movie & I heard about the Dee Blanchard & how she forced Gypsy Rose to be sick & this movie is telling it the same way so why did they named the characters Camile & Esme? That Doesn't make No Sense Why didn't they do the characters of Dee Dee Blanchard & Gypsy Rose? & when Camile told the neighbor that the Convention is a Freak Show that people dressed up in Costumes to pretend that they aren't & she ends up taking her anyway that was kinda weird

"Love You to Death" is a profound and powerfully disturbing movie about the relationship between Esmé Stoller (Emily Skaggs) and her mom Camile (Marcia Gay Harden, a far more illustrious "name" than we're used to seeing on Lifetime). Esmé is in a wheelchair, she's bald (there's a fascinatingly cruel scene in which we see her mom shaving her head) and she's been told she has had bone cancer since she was 4. Writer Anthony Jaswinski and director Alex Kalymnikos tell this story from both mother's and daughter's point of view, and the result is a powerful, chilling fable about just how far certain people will go to feel "loved" and "needed." I'm rating it nine stars instead of 10 because the switch from Camile's to Esmé's point of view about a third of the way through is awkward and writer Jaswinski could have had an even deeper and more profound movie if he'd used the "Citizen Kane" narratage technique and told the Stollers' story from the various points of view of the people involved in it. But that doesn't take away from what he, Kalymnikos and their stars (not only Harden and Skaggs but Brennan Keel Cook as Esmé's boyfriend Scott) achieved with a film that's excellent by any standards and especially amazing coming from Lifetime.

Lifetime movies seldom rise above mediocrity ("Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story" was a notable exception), but they usually have some entertainment value. This misbegotten misfire has none. The sad tale of Gypsy and Dedee Blanchard is a real-life horror story that would tax the abilities of Ann Rice or Stephen King. The subject is simply too unpleasant for a fictional treatment. Emily Skeggs is good, but Marcia Gay Harden gives a one-note performance as the mom and the rest of the cast are cyphers. Do yourself a favor and skip this turkey. Watch ID's riveting 2-part documentary "Gypsy's Revenge" instead.

There is more music and artistic scenes than dialogue. That should probably give you a clue to not expect a riveting experience from the actors and actresses. Yes, it's based in a true story, but man, did they tone the real problem down when they focused a ton on the daughter and her boyfriend's "beautiful love scenes" first in a convention with a wig in a wheelchair, to a wig in a bed, and to a pool when the wig finally comes off. Ok, we get the symbolism of losing the wig with him. But um, I think he knew she wasn't faking when she walked and was banging him in bed and she lost her innocence when she became honest to someone other than her mother. Really disappointed in this. Did enjoy all the piano music in it though, especially considering I switched to reading a book during this disaster, it really provided nice quite background music.