source: Deadly Lessons

Moviecut—A Stolen Life

"A Stolen Life" (a.k.a., "Deadly Lessons") is a film about three women. Beth Williams is married to a controlling attorney husband, and she is fiercely protective of her daughter. Aubrey Williams is the daughter struggling in school and in her personal life due to her situation at home. Tamara Thompson is the kind tutor, who bonds with Aubrey and gives her a new lease on life. The filmmakers did a superb job in maintaining dramatic tension while weaving the details of the past into the moment-to-moment realities of the present. Thirteen years ago, Tamara (a.k.a., Christina Miller) witnessed her child being kidnapped right from under her eyes in a carriage while out for a stroll in broad daylight in Los Angeles. Thirteen years later, the quick-thinking teacher and friend of Tamara, Mrs. Brent, notices a remarkable resemblance between young Aubrey and the teenage Tamara, when she was growing up with the woman known as Christina Miller. The wild card in the film is the strange figure of Richard Miller. Is he expressing only "tough love" for his daughter? Or, is he a monster who may have been the abductor of the child thirteen years ago? That is the dilemma that is front and center in the minds of the audience. It is also the dilemma of the two women who believe they may be the mother of Aubrey Williams. There was an especially thoughtful dénouement to the film in which all three women return to original crime scene. The performances were outstanding, and there was a beautiful comaraderie of the three women as they meet at the lake around the shared experience of the love between a mother and daughter.

I love lifetime movies for the very reason people hate them...they're a mess! Haha. There's something comforting about low budget films about crazy things going on in suburbia. This movie however, was a very pleasant surprise. The acting was great, the storyline moved along gracefully and it wasn't over the top. It was sweet and I did feel my heart warming up at a couple of scenes. The daughter was very pleasant and adorable, which is a welcome change of pace to me seeing as how 90% of lifetime movie teens are little brats that speak horribly to their parents. This movie was definitely very different from the typical LT flick yet still had that element of drama that makes us dig Lifetime movies. Highly suggested.

This is probably one of my favorite lifetime movies. This story about a mother and a daughter made me want to cry. I highly recommend this movie!

But I was, a little, when the revelation came between the real mother, grandmother and newly found daughter as they sat together at the dinner table. Paris Smith did an excellent job in her role. The other characters, too, played well. However, it was kind of glossed over why the "father" abducted a little girl in the first place. Was it just because his wife couldn't have kids? That backstory wasn't explained too well. But he didn't seem to ~like~ his "daughter" at all, and she couldn't stand the sight of him. As the film ended and the girl said proudly that she now had TWO moms, I wonder how this sort of thing is handled in real life - and make no mistake that this or something like it has undoubtedly actually happened, given the huge number of children abducted every year in the USA. Does the girl now live with her real mom and only see her stepmom occasionally? Or the other way round.

Terrible acting and the plot is unbelievable. The acting between the daughter and her boyfriend is awful. No connection just him saying daft one liners and her screwing up her face. He must also have a hell of a job to be able to afford that car. Stupid scene when they argue about making out . . . .just daft and very very bad.

Sometimes the lack of a twist for the sake of a twist is refreshing. A woman loses her child to an abductor in a park. When her friend spots a teenager who looks like her when she was the same age she becomes her tutor and sets about to reconnect with her. It's quite involving to see how things play out. It's a wish fulfilment story with a happy ending and it's nice to see that.

A typical movie of this kind, but with good acting and a logical plot.I think you would like it!

I enjoyed this movie. Good story line and acting. I recommend it.