Project Details:

The Lilies is a twenty-five minute film based on a short story by Alison Prince from a collection entitled 'The Ghost Within'. Produced by several EIMC students as part of their final year MTP course, The Lilies follows the story of a young girl called Sarah Mulloy (played by Suzanne Vaughne). Sarah's mother Mary (Christine Anderson) accidentally kills the local Reverend in their garden after a heated argument about Sarah stealing dead flowers from the local chapel. They bury the Reverend in the garden and the following day, where there had been a mound of soil over the Reverend's body, the ground is now flat and covered in flowers.

Soon after, even though the pair have seemingly gotten away with the murder of Reverend Evans, Mary has become ill due to the injuries she suffered in the struggle with the Reverend and surrounded by the flowers she loves so much she dies in the garden. In the act of burying her mother in the garden, not far from the Reverend, Sarah is apprehended by a policeman, called to the scene by concerned neighbours. Committed to a mental institution, Sarah has to face her demons in the guise of the Lilies from the chapel and the garden, and believing the flowers that she sees are against her she succumbs to their will and she too dies, alone in the mental institute.

Music:

The Lilies score is as dark and melancholy as the story's plot and the flowing minor orchestral string melodies become more vigourous and striking during the various climaxes. Repetition of certain key themes is used to emphasise the growing unineasiness in Sarah which eventually leads to her impending madness.