Dorothea (Pat McNeely) has been sentenced to life in prison, and now that she feels her end coming, she feels compelled to finally tell her life's story to a young fellow convict (Ena Maaala). So she tells how she (in younger years played by Susan Priver) got out of her first, abusive marriage by murder, suffered two more abusive marriages and ultimately turned to prostitution to keep her head above water, while slowly learning th etricks of the trade when it comes to crime. And of all things imaginable, this inspires her to open a boarding house for the underprivileged - be it the elderly or peöple out of drug or alcohol rehab. She doesn't do this because she has turned a new leaf though (though it's seen that way) but because she has figured out a way to cheat her guests out of healthcare checks, even if that means murdering them to get her hands on their money - and she's not one to shy away from murder, then burying her victims in her rose garden and use their graves as beds for more roses. And while she gets better and better at it the longer she does this, but she also leaves more and more unanswered questions, all leading up to her, so it's only a matter of time unil the law catches up ...

Now of course, this is not the first movie about evil caretakers, and even the light-footed approach to the topic isn't totally novel - what really makes this movie though is how unapologetically it takes the villain's side and thus forces the audience to identify with her as well, despite all the heinous crimes she commits. And this makes this movie a pretty fascinating experience as it pretty much plays with the fascination of evil. Of course, this is also greatly helped by a very likeable central performance by Susan Priver, who pretty much lends murder a nice face, an d some ingenious directorial decisions, like letting characters repeatedly break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience. And all of this results in pretty unique and in its own way thriller entertainment.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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