Bleak, harrowing and ultimately elusive, 'The Dead Girl' is a post-modern interpretation of fate, suffering and interconnectedness.

Writer/director Karen Moncrieff has put together five short stories which touch, in some way, on the 'dead girl'.

'The Stranger' follows the peculiar Arden (Toni Collette) as she discovers the body of the dead girl. This discovery and the unwelcome local attention which it causes enables her to break free from her abusive invalid mother (Piper Laurie) in exchange for an even more bizarre relationship with the serial-killer-obsessed Rudy (Giovanni Ribisi).

The next segment, 'The Sister' — which is probably the weakest — focuses on Leah (Rose Byrne) a forensic graduate who is torn between her family's inability to let go of her sister who has been missing for 15 years and her desire to live her own life. Believing that the dead girl is her sister, she is finally able to move away from her past.

In 'The Wife', Ruth (Mary Beth Hurt) is trapped in a relationship with a distant husband who spends days away from home without any explanation. On one such occasion, Ruth uncovers some dark mementos from his night-time trysts.

As 'The Mother' (Marcia Gay Harden) searches for the truth about her runaway daughter's life and death, she encounters the dead girl's fellow prostitute Rosetta (Kerry Washington) and is forced to face her own failures as a mother.

The film ends with the segment on the dead girl Krista (Brittany Murphy). It follows her (obviously failed) quest to reach her four-year-old daughter in time for her birthday, but stops tantalisingly short of providing any closure.

With remarkable performances from all in this is stellar ensemble cast, the film is well worth watching.

However, don't expect any form of resolution, explanation or vindication. The actual death in 'The Dead Girl' remains a mystery shared only by the victim and her killer. The recognition that life is full of unfinished, inexplicable story threads is perhaps more harrowing than even the most graphic images of the dead girl's half-decayed body.