Kristen Stewart and Chloë Sevigny have been cast as sapphic lovers in Lizzie, the latest reimagining of the unresolved Borden murder case.
Exactly 126 years ago today, a brutal murder took place in Fall River, Massachusetts that would go on to capture the imagination of the entire nation. Andrew Borden and his second wife Abby Borden were bludgeoned to death with a hatchet in their own home. “Lying in a pool of blood on the living room couch, Andrew’s face had been nearly split in two. Abby (…) was found upstairs with her head smashed to pieces.” The primary suspect? Andrew’s very own daughter, Lizzie.
While Lizzie Borden was acquitted by the jury after just 90 minutes, the investigation was criticized for its lack of diligence, and Lizzie’s answers to the police were often contradictory. In retrospect, the culprit seems obvious, but a burning questions remains: Why would she do it?
Craig William Macneill’s film Lizzie explores the role that sexual abuse and homophobia could have played in pushing “a seemingly proper young lady from an upstanding Massachusetts family” to murder her own father and stepmother.
Cholë Sevigny stars as Lizzie Borden, while Kristen Stewart plays Bridget Sullivan, the housemaid with whom Lizzie shares an electrifying and turbulent love affair.
In her review of the movie, Sarah Fonseca writes, “Lizzie is brutal, historically attuned, and committed to exploring effeminate trauma and retaliation.”
Keep an eye out for Lizzie in select cinemas in the US, September 14, 2018.
