Uma Thurman

Spotlight By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Uma Thurman has a zen-like calmness about her. Perhaps it's her Buddhist upbringing (her father was a Buddhist scholar), or maybe it's that she's at peace with her film choices and her family life as of late. And why shouldn't she be' The tall, blonde mother of two became ingrained in pop culture thanks to films like Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, and currently stars in the wonderfully intricate The Life Before Her Eyes, directed by Vadim Perelman (The House of Sand and Fog). In it she plays Diana, the older incarnation of a rebellious teen played by Evan Rachel Wood. The adult Diana, now a responsible wife and mother, is consumed with guilt as the 15th anniversary of a tragic school shooting nears. The past and the present collide as Diana flashes back to the events leading up to that tragic day. Or is it really the younger Diana who is flashing forward' The film can have many interpretations and meanings, but for Thurman its themes were basic.

'I think there's a direct answer if you're talking about the gimmick of the story, but I think why put it to that, why waste it on that,' she says. 'I think it's a beautiful reverie on being alive and sort of weirdly, on death, but more and more about being alive. I think the stuff that's so strong in the film is the challenge of a character as a living person and how strongly we attach ourselves to life no matter how hard it is.'

Thurman believes those hardships, as seen through the eyes of both the teenagers and the adults in the story, will resonate with a lot of people. 'I think this is a movie that when people see it they will not forget it,' she says. 'They will remember having seen it. One of the wonderful things I can't help but think of when I watch the movie and read the script is that this movie has its life and it's seen by people. There'll be so many teenagers who will watch this movie and the conversations they'll have as a result or the things they'll reveal to their parents reacting to one piece or another of this movie could be really helpful because it's sharing some stuff that's kept quite private, sometimes.'

In the film, Thurman's Diana let her emotions seep through the surface of her seemingly ideal life. She's near breakdown for the most part. 'I think there's something wonderfully cathartic about messing yourself up to find the right moment,' she says. 'You dig deep inside yourself. When it's over, it depends on the person. I usually feel exhausted and relief when it's over.'

Not only was Diana filled with remorse and haunted by past events, she also had to be a realistic mother who didn't hide her feelings from her child. 'I think people probably don't have much of a choice; they have to be who they are,' she says. 'You don't try to lie to your child or anyone else. They'll sense it and it'll cause them just as much insecurities or confusion. She certainly wasn't a screaming wreck or hysterical mess that makes you uncomfortable. She was just someone with feelings, being emotional. I think if parents are sobbing and hysterical or screaming and angry that's an issue.'

When her daughter begins exhibiting some of the same rebellious tendencies that Diana once showed when she was younger, it causes Diana to reflect even more on the person she used to be. 'I do think that what's wonderful in life is that we gain perspective as we take on different roles that are mind and heart opening,' Thurman says. 'You're like wow, gee, I was so insensitive to that and now that I'm in this position I really understand better what motivated that or why this person was so difficult with me or why that person stuck to that point or whatever it may be. If you're seeking more knowledge you're seeking a better understanding of people.'

Her understanding of this character, though, was not merely because she is a mother in real life. 'I'm sure if I didn't have children I could've still played this role,' she says. 'I think many women who don't have children deeply understand what it feels like to love children and to be passionately attached to protecting them. I wouldn't make judgments about women who don't have children that they lack feeling.'

Prior to The Life Before Her Eyes, Thurman last appeared in the comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Was it a conscious decision to pick a heavy drama after a light comedy' 'I love drama, I just can't find very many dramas,' she says. 'I love them, and I love comedy. But they're hard to find, intimate movies like this. They're really hard to find and they're really hard to get made.'

Thurman is keeping busy, though, with a romantic comedy out in August called The Accidental Husband, and a few more projects in the works. 'I'm working on this wonderful independent movie called Motherhood written and directed by Katherine Dieckmann and totally excited about it,' she says. 'And then I take a couple of months off and start Eloise in Paris. So I'll make my first official children's movie.'

Though her choices are diverse (she even did a movie-musical, The Producers, in 2005), Thurman no longer pursues projects based on genre. 'I've kind of gotten over my obsession with trying to do every genre,' she says. 'I'd like to just keep doing what I love and exploring new characters and new worlds and lives. That's what's so exciting. It's so fun; it's like the most amazing job in the world. Every time you go into something or a new world, it gives you so much.'