Great Film The Academy Failed To Notice
In 1990 Kathy Bates delivered a memorable, Oscar-winning performance as the crazed fan Annie Wilkes in MISERY, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Five years later, once again in a King adaptation, she gave arguably an even better and more multi-faceted performance in the title role of DOLORES CLAIBORNE, a non-horror story about a woman's past and the daughter she will do anything to protect. She is aided and abetted here by great performances by the ensemble: Jennifer Jason Leigh as the adult Selena, Dolores's daughter, a pill-popping, hard drinking investigative reporter who dresses all in black and whose entire affect is one of "leave me alone;" Ellen Muth as Selena at thirteen (a particular coup; much of this movie is told in flashback and the resemblance between Muth and Leigh is astounding); Judy Parfitt as Dolores's imperious employer, Christopher Plummer as a detective with an axe to grind against Dolores for something in her past; and the great David Strathairn as Dolores's alcoholic husband Joe. Yet this move failed to garner a single Oscar nomination, something I shall never understand.
The flashbacks in this movie are perhaps the most arresting thing in it: the story is memory, and what makes this film special is that the "now" is filmed in unrelenting shades of grimy grey, while the flashbacks are in brilliant color, a stroke of genius for director Taylor Hackford, as it delivers a powerful message that the past shapes us more than we even realize.
Running through this film is the leitmotif "Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hold onto." Spoken by the adult Serena, Dolores's employer Vera Donovan, and Dolores herself, this is in many ways the central theme of the story: the ways in which women are mistreated, judged, and often abused by the men around them. It is probably the most feminist story King ever wrote, a gritty and realistic tale about women taking care of one another and bonding together in defense against the various cruelties inflicted on them by the men in their lives.
Bates is sensational in the title role; in many ways this is an even better performance than that which she gave in MISERY; it requires her to play a great deal many more notes, age something like eighteen years, and create a woman who is has become her own person through blood, sweat, and tears. Dolores is cranky, has a bit of a temper, and is eccentric in that "there's always one in every small town" kind of way. But not crazy. She is as sane as you and I (assuming of course that we are sane, but eye digress), and when faced with an abomination, she takes matters in hand out of sheer desperation. Yet to call her simply a "victim" would not be correct; she's tough, and she fights back. Fights dirty, too, when the need arises.
Judy Parfitt as the snooty Vera is terrific; she gives the film a few laughs at unexpected moments despite the fact that she is an even more tragic figure than Dolores.
Perhaps the only member of the cast who can truly be called a victim is Selena at thirteen; Ellen Muth, a brilliant young actress, delivers the goods with a powerful performance. The adult Serena is better termed a "survivor;" she may overdo the booze and the pills, but she's still standing. Leigh is virtually flawless here.
Special mention must be made of Christopher Plummer as the detective, so certain that Dolores has committed a murder that he enters the film with his mind made up. Condescending in the extreme, his final showdown, when it comes, is not with Dolores, but with Selena.
And last but by no means least, the marvelous David Strathairn as Joe. Joe is a hateful character; he abuses Dolores both verbally and physically, and gets meaner when he drinks. Yet Strathairn somehow manages to make him rather a pathetic character; you might hate him, but you'll also pity him.
This is a truly great film that was completely overlooked by the Academy. Shame on them.
Never mess with a middle-aged, Bipolar queen with AIDS and an attitude problem!
roflol ><