Douce Audrina: l'enfant sans passé

I was locked inside all weekend due to a hurricane and decided to binge all the VC Andrews series on Lifetime. It got to be pretty repetitive with similar story lines, twists, incest, poverty, rich family member dying etc. And then I got to My Sweet Audrina! I almost missed it because it's older and not a series but a stand alone but my god it was the best! It's pretty rare for me these days in my movie binging madness to find a film that keeps me off my phone, fully engaged, on the edge my seat, and wondering who/what/where/when/why! In fact I normally have the whole plot figured out but not with this. But along with an interesting and really originally story line, you have great actors! I fell in love with James Tupper in the Revenge series years ago, which is always a go to rewatch for me. As well as William Moseley in The Royals, which was canceled way too soon. India Eisley was unfamiliar to me but I could see her having a fantastic career if given the right opportunities. In my opinion this is one of the over all best films I've seen in years and it's a quick, easy watch without getting dragged out unnecessarily.

Audrina Adare (Farryn VanHumbeck) lived in isolation with with her father Damian (James Tupper), mother Lucietta, aunt Ellsbeth and cousin Vera (Kacey Rohl) in a mansion. She lived in the shadow of her dead sister namesake. She is confused with time and lost memories. Vera constantly taunts her. Her father pushes a connection with the original Audrina. Arden Lowe is a local boy in love with Audrina. Lucietta dies in childbirth and baby Sylvia is autistic. Years later, Audrina (India Eisley) takes piano lessons from Lamar Rensdale while Vera (Tess Atkins) flirts.

This starts off like a moody horror movie. In the end, it's only a spooky mystery. Kacey Rohl should have stayed as Vera. The change in Audrina actresses is acceptable and Arden is inevitable. Rohl could easily play all the different ages. India Eisley has the innocent fragility and beauty for the part. Her speaking voice does mumble her lines sometimes which isn't the greatest for a lead. The middle is a lot of slow rambling sexual melodrama. It's somewhat aimless. It needs a direction and the simplest is Audrina researching her namesake predecessor. By the end, the reveal doesn't satisfy as much as releases the movie from its expectations.

This movie is a total disgrace to the book. The book draws you in, but this piece of trash movie just makes you want to run away from the television.

Too much novel to cram into 90 minutes, but this captured the heart of the story. Obviously it was both cleaner and whittled way down to turn into a screenplay, but this is expected. Lifetime holds the crown on VCA adaptations, for better or worse. And these are some of the best productions Lifetime puts out there. Great efforts considering the complexity and mature subject matter that makes up VCA source material. I enjoyed it.

Having not read the novel it originated from, I was able to go into My Sweet Audrina totally cold with no knowledge of the story except that it was billed as a creepy, gothic family drama much like V. C. Andrews' more popular Flowers in the Attic which I enjoyed.

Perhaps it was the Lifetime trope of speeding up the events of the story to squeeze in as much into 90 minutes as possible that caused this movie to fall flat to me or maybe it was the awkward acting by just about everyone in the film, but this one was a dud to me. As I was watching, I could tell the concept and story itself were interesting and strong, but the adaptation felt off. The filmmakers aren't allowed to let moments flow naturally and everyone's at the same emotional pitch throughout most of the movie. Things happen so fast and there's not enough time for the actors, characters, or audience to deal with some of the pretty insane things that happen throughout the movie.