The young Aprile is able to express so much with a simple gaze or facial expression and she never feels overmatched or misplaced in an ensemble piece with such strong acting all around.

It is always a risky move to have a child actor be the anchor of a film, but Aprile’s natural delivery and screen presence is such a wonderful revelation. Maisie is a happy child and one that is largely oblivious to the neglectful and vindictive actions of her parents. What keeps “What Maisie Knew” from being a completely upsetting film is both the age of the character and the brilliant performance from a young actress. As the film progresses, the two actors show tremendous magnetic chemistry and Skarsgard’s charm and interactions with Aprile become very enjoyable to watch. His character and Maisie’s are thrown together quickly and slow to warm up to each other. Though Vanderham is good, Skarsgard is a nice surprise in this role. As the film progresses, it is clear that Lincoln and Margo become more parental figures than Maisie’s actual parents. Both actors are particularly strong at conveying tension, especially during the scenes where they butt heads and argue. Moore and Coogan both give very strong performances, and Moore is especially good at being completely selfish and unhinged. Both parents quickly remarry and eventually dump off parental responsibilities to their respective spouses, Lincoln, (Alexander Skarsgard) a bartender, and Margo, (Joanna Vanderham) who serves as Maisie’s nanny. As their relationship crumbles, a bitter custody battle ensues, causing their young daughter Maisie (Onata Aprile) to get caught in the middle. Set in New York City, rock ‘n’ roll musician Susanne (Julianne Moore) and her successful husband Beale (Steve Coogan) are embroiled in a failing marriage. As a modern film adaptation of his novel of the same name, “What Maisie Knew” tells the story of a bitter divorce and custody battle through the eyes of a 6-year-old girl. While these days the stats show the number is closer to 40 percent than 50 percent, it seems unlikely that author Henry James could have known how timely his novel would end up being when he wrote it in 1897, a year when the divorce rate was a mere 6 percent.

It’s a statistic stated so many times in the past few decades it is practically an axiom: half of all marriages end in divorce. Written by: Carroll Cartwright (“Dungeons and Dragons”) and Nancy Doyne (debut) Starring: Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgard, Onata Aprileĭirected by: Scott McGehee (“Bee Season”) and David Siegel (“Bee Season”)

Who wrote what maisie knew