Dolores Claiborne

"Sometimes, being a bitch is all a woman has to hold on to."

There is something about Stephen King's novel, Dolores Claiborne, and its subsequent adaptation that has grabbed me and never let go. I vividly remember reading the novel while on summer vacation with my family and just devouring it and then giving it to my mother to read during the same trip. Naturally, we eagerly awaited the film version which while being quite different than the novel in some respects, is also an incredibly good film as well as one that was tragically overlooked.

New York reporter Selena St. George (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) is drawn back to her home town, the small town of Little Tall Island in Maine, when she discovers her mother Dolores Claiborne (played by Kathy Bates) has been brought in for questioning in the suspicious death of the woman, Vera Donovan (played by Judy Parfitt), that Dolores cared for. The detective overseeing the case is Detective John Mackey (played by Christopher Plummer), who has a long history with Dolores as he over saw the investigation into the death of Dolores' husband and Selena's father Joe St. George (played by David Straithairn). The two women have a strained relationship and Selena has not visited her mother in fifteen years but the two can't help revisiting the past as soon as they get back to the old house their past memories come creeping back as the two start to settle their past issues once and for all in a house where every corner seems to trigger a memory or flashback.   

The film was directed by Taylor Hackford from a script by Tony Gilroy and manage to pull off the seemingly impossible task of adapting Stephen King's novel. The reason I say this is the way the story is told in the novel is completely different than the movie. The novel is one, long stream of consciousness written statement by Delores concerning the two deaths central to the film and her role in them. Adult Selena is not even a character in the original novel but was added to the film as part of finding a new way to tell the same story. Not only is it an effective choice, I also think it makes the film a rare instance where it is better than the book. By bringing in adult Selena and seeing how the darkness of her past has impacted her as she deals with it and her mother for the first time in her life made for a more emotionally satisfying story as well. They do a fantastic job managing the numerous and lengthy flashbacks that run throughout the film by having the present look very cold, desaturated and overcast whereas the flashbacks, that mostly center around a specific summer leading up to a total eclipse, are brighter and full of color making the two segments of the story that much easier to discern, as well as fitting the thematic style of the film. They also capture small town Maine life in a way that is unlike any other Stephen King adaptation. Of course, much like King's books, there are nods to his other works notably a reference to Shawshank Prison, the setting of The Shawshank Redemption. 

Part of what makes this movie so memorable is the acting in the film. This is especially true with Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh, who are both absolutely at the top of their game in their respective roles. Bates gives what is without a doubt her best performance, completely inhabiting the character of Dolores right down to a flawless New England accent and the character's unique colloquialisms. It's a shame this film was so ignored after it's release in the Spring of 1995 because Bates deserved a second Oscar for this role. Jennifer Jason Leigh is great as Selena, matching Kathy Bates beat for beat as the two revisit their difficult past, especially since Selena has repressed many of her memories of that time. David Straithairn doesn't hold back at all in his performance as the drunken, abusive Joe, never afraid to be totally despicable. Christopher Plummer is good as well as the driven and obsessed Detective Mackey, determined to prove Dolores guilty in the murder of Vera because he's convinced Dolores killed Joe too, even if in both cases there was not enough evidence to prove it. Judy Parfitt is great as Dolores' employer, Vera Donovan, who has very strict ideas of how her house should be run and slowly grows to not only being a confidant of Dolores' but her friend as well.    

Dolores Claiborne tackles some grim and dark material but yet never felt depressing to me. The story is absolutely riveting with some great performances backing it up. Despite the subject matter, it's a story of mending relationships, looking out for one another, making peace with the past and ultimately female empowerment. It's a fantastic film that was a great adaptation of Stephen King's novel that, despite the change in narrative style, remains largely faithful to it's source material. 

I had been wanting to review this film on this blog for awhile now and was searching for the right time to do it. When I heard Netflix was doing an adaptation of King's novel Gerald's Game, I realized that was the perfect time to do it since the two novels are directly connected (there is an eclipse that is a pivotal plot point in both novels, as well as in the novel Dolores has a vision during the eclipse of a woman in distress but can't make her out, who turns out to be the main character, Jessie, in Gerald's Game and likewise Jessie has a vision of Dolores in that novel as well). I figured it would be fun to review them side by side, given the connection between the two novels (apparently there is a nod to Dolores Claiborne in the Gerald's Game film as well, according to that film's director). So, that review will be coming soon.