source: A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne

I've never witnessed a film like this. From the acting to the soundtrack it was all more than enough to reduce you to tears.

In 2012 (3 years after the film) the convicted man was found not guilty and released. He subsequently sued and won (out of court) media outlets. This film gives such an impression of his guilt. Should it be shown?

This movie jumps around the timeline quite often. I really couldn't sympathize or dislike any of the characters due to the amount of jumping around. The bad guy yelled at the victim a few times in flashbacks, but we were not shown much incriminating material or actions from the bad guy. He seems like a stupid, but this doesn't make one a killer. We see that his story doesn't quite add up and that he has a few odd behaviors, but these are not explored beyond surface level. This entire movie is surface level. There were sad moments, but I was sad because the actors portrayed themselves as sad. They were great actors. It is natural to want to cry when you see someone cry, so this movie is mostly watching people be sad. The cinematography was not that great either. The music came in at awkward positions, but there are also too many quiet scenes. It had the vibe of a head-case movie with quiet conversations and super cold coloring. This was an all around sad movie.

This movie did manage to keep my interest. I guess the acting was fine and the fact the story is true helped. However it was so heavy-handed and over-directed. Lots of odd camera angles and slow motion. And waaayyy to much music. It's as if they did not trust the actors to carry the scenes. It seems a minute did not go by without overly dramatic music. Plus there were some songs that were really bad.

This is definitely one of the best made for TV films I've seen. I'm a huge fan of Cariba Heine, which is the main reason I watched this movie and I'm so glad I did. All of the actors were spectacular, and the storyline was intriguing and exciting. I particularly liked the flashback scenes. Overall I think the entire movie is brilliant. It even made me cry a couple of times! I'm very interested in the Caroline Byrne case now and I truly hope Cariba's portrayal of her did the real Caroline justice. Just a warning that this movie does contain sex scenes and some language. However, it's still a must-watch! I can't look at David Lyons (who plays Gordon Wood) the same after watching this movie. It also may help if you research the Caroline Byrne court case a bit before watching. I did and it made the experience much better.

That's a fine movie, not because of its true story, which is deeply saddening all by itself, but by the good job the actors do. That's an almost rare exception, because most of the time, that's the other way around. Despite being a true story, the writers did not use all its potentials, did a weak job in the first place by writing the production as a movie around 93 minutes with big gaps in cohesion. This should have been made as a TV series around 4-5 episodes, which would have helped to better show necessary and required developments and various intrications to the case, including the last hours and days of Caroline Byrne. The actors' performances is good enough for the production; it is just that it heavily lacks good screenplay and storyline with enough descriptive plots to help and enlighten viewers in having a more immersive and deeper experience into this tragic story and its portrayal. Like many others, first and foremost, watched it because of Cariba Heine. She is a very good and beautiful actress, but wasn't given the opportunity to truly shine and express herself in this movie. A shame coupled with sad regrets...

A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne