Honestly, movies about the afterlife are usually a bit of a gamble. They either lean too hard into the cheesy, cloud-filled imagery or get so bogged down in sadness that you can't even finish your popcorn. But desde mi cielo pelicula—or The Lovely Bones, as it’s known in English—is a completely different beast. It’s weird. It’s gorgeous. It’s deeply uncomfortable. Released in 2009 and directed by Peter Jackson, the man who gave us the sprawling landscapes of Middle-earth, this film takes Alice Sebold’s massive bestseller and turns it into a visual fever dream that people are still debating over a decade later.
You’ve probably seen the memes or the clips of Stanley Tucci looking absolutely terrifying in a combover and aviator glasses. That’s the core of the movie, really. It’s the story of Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl who is murdered in 1973 and watches from her own personal "In-Between" as her family falls apart and her killer goes about his mundane, creepy life. It’s a tough watch.
What Jackson got right (and what fans still argue about)
When you adapt a book as beloved and brutal as The Lovely Bones, you're going to make people mad. It's inevitable. Jackson took a gamble by focusing heavily on the "In-Between," that surreal space Susie inhabits after her death. Some critics at the time, like the legendary Roger Ebert, felt the CGI-heavy afterlife sequences clashed too much with the gritty, suburban reality of the murder investigation. He gave it a lukewarm review, noting that the tone felt fractured.
But if you look at desde mi cielo pelicula today, those visuals are actually what make it stick in your brain. The way the landscape shifts based on Susie's emotions—ships in bottles shattering against giant rocks or golden fields that turn cold and gray—is pure cinematic poetry. It captures that 1970s Pennsylvania vibe perfectly too. The grain of the film, the mustard-yellow kitchens, and the wide-collared shirts make the horror of what happens to Susie feel much more grounded and "real" than a standard Hollywood thriller.
Saoirse Ronan was only about 13 or 14 when she filmed this. Think about that. Most kids that age are worried about algebra, but she was delivering a performance that carried an entire big-budget studio film. She has this way of looking at the camera that makes you feel like she’s actually seeing through the veil. It’s probably one of the best "teen" performances in modern cinema, largely because she doesn't act like a "movie teenager." She’s just a kid who lost everything.
The terrifying brilliance of Stanley Tucci
We need to talk about George Harvey.
Most people know Stanley Tucci as the charming guy who makes cocktails on Instagram or the stylish assistant in The Devil Wears Prada. In desde mi cielo pelicula, he is unrecognizable. He actually won an Oscar nomination for this role, and he deserved it. Tucci has mentioned in several interviews, including one with Entertainment Weekly, that he hated playing the character. He found the headspace of a child predator so repulsive that he almost turned the role down.
He played Harvey with this chilling, quiet stillness. There’s no mustache-twirling villainy here. He’s just a neighbor who builds dollhouses. That’s what makes the movie so effective as a cautionary tale. The monster isn't hiding in the woods; he’s the guy across the street offering you a soda. The tension in the scene where Susie’s sister, Lindsey, breaks into Harvey’s house to find evidence is arguably one of the most stressful sequences in 2000s cinema. Your heart rate spikes because Jackson directs it like a horror movie, even though the colors are bright and the sun is shining.
Dealing with the "Missing" parts of the book
If you’ve read the book, you know it’s way darker than the movie. Jackson made a conscious choice to pull back on the more graphic details of Susie’s death to keep a PG-13 rating. Some fans felt this "sanitized" the story. In the novel, the violence is visceral, and there’s a whole subplot involving Susie’s mother (played by Rachel Weisz in the film) leaving the family to find herself in California that gets significantly trimmed down on screen.
Mark Wahlberg plays the father, Jack Salmon, and honestly, his performance is underrated. He captures that obsessive, frantic grief of a parent who knows the truth but can't prove it. The scene where he’s smashing his beloved ships in bottles is a gut-punch. It shows how grief isn't just sadness; it’s a violent, destructive force.
Why does "Desde mi cielo pelicula" still trend?
You might wonder why a 2009 movie still pops up in your feed. It’s because it handles "The Afterlife" in a way that feels personal rather than religious. It doesn't give you easy answers. Susie doesn't get to come back to life. Her family doesn't magically become "okay." It’s a story about the "lovely bones" that grow around the spaces where things are missing.
It’s also a masterclass in production design. Naomi Shohan, the production designer, worked to make the 1973 setting feel lived-in. Those details matter. When you see the vintage cereal boxes or the specific type of bike Susie rides, it triggers a sense of nostalgia that makes the tragedy hit harder. It’s the loss of innocence for an entire era, not just one girl.
Real-world impact and the Sebold controversy
It's impossible to talk about the movie today without mentioning the real-life controversy surrounding the author, Alice Sebold. In recent years, the story took a dark turn when the man wrongly convicted of the real-life assault that inspired Sebold’s memoir (which preceded the novel) was exonerated. This has led many to re-evaluate Sebold's work. While the film desde mi cielo pelicula is a work of fiction, the "true crime" element that fueled its initial popularity has become much more complicated in the public eye.
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Does that ruin the movie? Not necessarily. But it adds a layer of complexity to how we consume stories about trauma. It reminds us that behind every "beautifully shot" tragedy on screen, there are real human lives and often-flawed legal systems.
A few things you might have missed
- The Cameo: Look closely at the mall scene. Peter Jackson himself makes a tiny cameo as a guy playing with a camera in a shop.
- The Music: Brian Eno did the score. If the music feels airy and strange, that’s why. He’s a legend of ambient music, and his touch gives the heaven scenes that "otherworldly" vibe.
- The Casting: Saoirse Ronan was cast based on a self-taped audition from Ireland. She didn't even meet Jackson in person before she got the role.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Viewers
If you're planning on revisiting desde mi cielo pelicula or watching it for the first time, keep these things in mind to get the most out of the experience:
- Watch the Background: In the "In-Between" scenes, the world changes based on Susie's mood. If she's happy, the colors are saturated. If she's scared, the horizon shrinks. It's a visual language most people ignore on a first watch.
- Compare the Mediums: If the movie felt too "light" for you, read the book. But be warned: it is significantly more graphic and emotionally taxing.
- Check the Deleted Scenes: There are several scenes that didn't make the theatrical cut involving the other girls Harvey killed. They add a lot of weight to the "justice" aspect of the story.
- Analyze the Color Palette: Notice how the Salmon household loses its color as the movie progresses, while Harvey's world remains strangely organized and "perfect." It's a brilliant way to show how the killer thrives while the victims' families wither.
The film is currently available on various streaming platforms like Paramount+ or for rent on Amazon. It remains a polarizing piece of cinema, but its influence on how we visualize grief and the "beyond" is undeniable. It’s a movie that asks you to look at the worst parts of humanity and still find something beautiful in the wreckage.
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Next Steps for Deep Diving:
To truly understand the impact of the film, look up the 2009 "Making Of" featurettes which detail how they built the surreal landscapes of Susie's heaven without relying entirely on green screens. You can also research the 1970s suburban aesthetic influences that Peter Jackson used to ground the film's "real world" segments in a tangible, dusty reality. Check out the official soundtrack by Brian Eno to hear how ambient music can be used to bridge the gap between horror and fantasy. Finally, compare the film's ending to the book's final chapters to see how the concept of "heavenly justice" differs between the two versions.