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Girl in the Picture

Girl in the Picture

Crime · Documentary · 2022

A young mother’s mysterious death and her son’s subsequent kidnapping blow open a decades-long mystery about the woman’s true identity, and the murderous federal fugitive at the center of it all.

Movie details

Girl in the Picture

“Her identity was a mystery to everyone. Even her.”

2022 Crime · Documentary 1h 41m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.3 / 10

24K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

96 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

7.1 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A young mother’s mysterious death and her son’s subsequent kidnapping blow open a decades-long mystery about the woman’s true identity, and the murderous federal fugitive at the center of it all.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Girl in the Picture?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart

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Elizabeth Smart's harrowing abduction at 14 from her family's Utah home unfolds through her own words and never-before-seen material in this documentary.

The Crash

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Ted Bundy: Mind of a Monster

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Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Skye Borgman

F

Franklin Delano Floyd

Self - aka Clarence Hughes, aka Warren Marshall (archive footage)

J

Joe Fitzpatrick

Self - Special Agent, FBI

K

Karen Parsley

Self - Tonya's Friend / Former Dancer, Passions

D

Dr. Charles Engles

Self - Neurosurgeon

M

Merle Bean

Self - Michael's Foster Mother

E

Ernest Bean

Self - Michael's Foster Father

B

Billy Carter

Self - Assistant Chief, Choctaw Police (OK)

Court is in session

Put Girl in the Picture on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.