THE BOOK FO STARS is a remarkable exploration of the two sides of the female psyche, Madonna and the whore, embodied in the characters of its protagonists, two sisters, Mary and Penny. Penny is world weary and has turned to drugs and prostitution to hide from the reality that her parents are dead and her younger sister is dying of csytic fibrosis. Mary knows she will never Grow up, but sublimates that anxiety into a memory book she calls the "Book of Stars and Lovely Things". This book achieves a magical quality, in that it can anticipate future events and influence the way people around the sisters interact with them. Much like the work of the Polish director, Kieslowski, this film explores the nature of fate and how it works on the destiny of people, in ways they never expected. And Mary uses the powers of the book to bring someone into Penny's life, after she has died, who will change it forever. Fate is not an unfeeling machine, it is a road to the future.
Review of The Book of Stars
