Drug and Acting *SPOILERS*

I liked the movie pretty well. It was an unusual approach (yes, there have been about a million versions of "Rashomon", but this movie did it in an intriguing way) It held my interest, and the ending caught me by surprise. Two comments:

1. Arsenic poisoning is a slow, painful and terrible way to die. It's inconceivable that a physician would not know that. Given that he has access to all sorts of pharmaceuticals that would kill quickly and painlessly, why would the father have chosen arsenic of all things? Remember that he's presumably planning to go out the same way as his daughters. If he wanted to use a famous literary poison for some twisted, theatrical reason, cyanide would have been a kinder choice. At least it's fast. Come to think of it, maybe that's why they used arsenic - because it's slow, we are left with the idea that the women might survive with treatment. But there still would have been many better choices available, especially to a physician.

2. In a number of reviews, the acting of the sisters is criticized as being being exaggerated and over the top. Apparently, these reviewers missed the point that the bulk of the acting, especially the craziness, takes places in the stories the sisters tell: Each of them is lying to make one of their sisters look guilty. Of course they want to make the behavior seem insanely wild and crazy. The actresses were portraying this exaggeration. It wasn't supposed to be a realistic depiction of mental illness or human behavior. I thought they did a generally good job, except that the actress playing the "quiet" sister overdid the awkwardness, even in scenes that are supposed to real.