A 2018 American biopic/thriller film about the 1892 axe murders by Lizzie Borden of her parents, directed by Craig William Macneill and starring Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart.
This version of the story takes a notably psychological turn, focusing on Lizzie's (Sevigny) relationship with her oppressive parents—particularly her father Andrew (Jamey Sheridan)—and her more affectionate/romantic relationship with the family's housekeeper, Bridget O'Sullivan (Stewart).
Unrelated to the musical of the same name.
Tropes:
- Agony of the Feet: When Lizzie overhears her father raping Bridget in the middle of the night, she breaks a mirror and scatters broken glass outside Bridget's door, so that when he leaves her room he'll cut his bare feet. She then lies in bed listening out for his cry of pain, which duly happens.
- Awful Wedded Life: Andrew and Abby's marriage. She knows all about his habit of sexually assaulting the servant girl and is merely disgusted with him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Lizzie is found not guilty of murder and is finally free of her awful father and stepmother who didn't lift a finger to stop him, and her uncle will never lay hands on the family money. But her relationships with Bridget and her own sister are broken, and she will live the rest of her life alone. Bridget is horrified by the murder and no longer feels like she knows Lizzie.
- Deadpan Snarker: Lizzie is oh so very deadpan, and gets a couple of these in.Detective: Did your father have any enemies?Lizzie: This is America, sir. Every man with a pulse has enemies.
- Fan Disservice: Lizzie hacks her mother to death while naked and the same goes for Bridget when she attempts to do the same to Andrew.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Lizzie takes her clothes off before killing her mother, in order not to get blood on her clothes. Downplayed with Bridget, who does the same thing before attempting to kill Andrew, but she can't go through with it. Lizzie finishes the job instead.
- Handicapped Badass: Arguably, Lizzie, who is prone to epileptic seizures. Her father wants to use this as an excuse to institutionalise her, so he can steal her and her sister's inheritances.
- Hate Sink: Andrew Borden, who is depicted as being not just a stern and cruel patriarch who regards his daughters as his personal property, and who no longer has any affection for his wife, but who also regularly rapes Bridget.
- John Morse, Lizzie's maternal uncle, who is collaborating with Andrew to swindle the Borden girls out of their inheritance. He also sexually assaults Lizzie in the hall of their house, grinding his hips into hers. He only stops because Bridget finds them.
- Kick the Dog: Andrew kills Lizzie's pet pigeons with an axe, out of rage at her attempting to pawn her mother's jewellery. Exaggerated as he then has Bridget serve them the pigeons for dinner. This will come back to bite him later when Lizzie smears pigeon blood on the axe that she uses to kill her parents, thereby making the police rule it out as the murder weapon.
- Never Learned to Read: Bridget. Lizzie teaches her.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Downplayed. Abby Borden informs Bridget that she will be known as "Maggie", because that's what they call all their Irish housekeepers, regardless of their actual names. Lizzie dislikes this practice, and insists on calling Bridget by her real name.
- The Stoic: Lizzie, who seldom betrays any emotion but who carries out her plan with remorseless efficiency, and accepts the consequences.
- Sympathetic Murderer: Lizzie's father is so despicable, and his plan to have her institutionalised so that she won't inherit her mother's property is so evil, that murdering her parents seems to be the only way out for her.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Bridget does one of these when she hears Lizzie hacking her own mother to death.
