Chloë Sevigny is unremarkable here, as the eponymous daughter in the rather oppressive Borden household. When they hire a new maid "Bridget" (Kristen Stewart), the two become friends and as the plot thickens, the renowned story of her axe-wielding and it's aftermath is presented to us. Stewart always comes across for me as a sterile actress; it doesn't matter what part she plays, she always looks completely dead behind the eyes - and in a role, here, that requires a great deal of intensity, she just doesn't deliver. Indeed, much of the entire focus here seems to have less to do with the murders, and of the frankly heinous way in which both sisters were treated by their molester of a father (Jeff Perry) and indifferent step-mother (Fiona Shaw), and more with any excuse to get naked and get down to some artily shot, passionless, lesbian nookie. If you know the story, then you will know what happens so there is no mystery to any of it - this is just an alternative, speculative, take on an history that could have delivered so much more had the director focused on the seriously undercooked characters and less on the aesthetics and the rather depressing score.
