Dolores Claiborne (1995)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Taylor Hackford

Writers (WGA):

Stephen King (book)
Tony Gilroy (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 March 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Sometimes, an accident can be an unhappy woman's best friend

Plot:

A big-city reporter travels to the small town where her mother has been arrested for the murder of an elderly woman that she works for as a maid.

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | Murder | Flashback | Maine | Well

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Kathy Bates	...	Dolores Claiborne
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Selena St. George
Judy Parfitt	...	Vera Donovan
Christopher Plummer	...	Det. John Mackey
David Strathairn	...	Joe St. George
Eric Bogosian	...	Peter
John C. Reilly	...	Const. Frank Stamshaw
Ellen Muth	...	Young Selena
Bob Gunton	...	Mr. Pease
Roy Cooper	...	Magistrate
Wayne Robson	...	Sammy Marchant
Ruth Marshall	...	Secretary
Weldon Allen	...	Bartender
Tom Gallant	...	Searcher
Kelly Burnett	...	Jack Donovan

MPAA:

Rated R for language and domestic abuse.

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:12 | USA:R (certificate #33558) | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 (bw) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

Castle Rock bought the rights to Stephen King's novel for $1.5 million.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Selena telephones Peter, the cuffs on his sleeve alternate between being open and being fastened.

Quotes:

Dolores Claiborne: [to Joe] That is the last time you ever hit me! Next time, one of us is going to the bone yard.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Secret Window (2004)

Soundtrack:

Happy Days Are Here Again

Very successful film

Kathy Bates made quite an impact, so to speak, on the movie-going public with her bravura performance in another Stephen King adaptation, 'Misery.' But showy (and fun) as that role was, it wasn't really much of an acting part--the real heavy lifting in that film was done by James Caan in his quieter, subtler role as the object of Bates's affection.

In 'Dolores Claiborne,' Bates finally gets a King role fully worthy of her range and subtlety. She pulls off the age transformations beautifully--I actually wondered at times whether young Dolores or old Dolores was closer to her real age. She still gets to have fun with King's trademark Maine dialect ('Now you listen to me, Mr. Grand High Poobah of Uppah Buttcrack!' is a line that gets me every time), but she never goes too far, and her every gesture tells of her great loves for her daughter and her friend, without ever exaggerating or sentimentalizing them. It's a remarkable performance, and the actress is probably right to remember it as her best role.

The rest of the film into which the performance fits creaks a bit in places (the final melodramatic scene at the hearing is pretty hokey), and it's complicated somewhat by Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance, which may be *too* good--her Selena comes off as so angry and selfish that we don't particularly *want* her to reconcile with her mother. But overall, the film's an artistic success, done in a classic American style, and using the simple but effective device of changing the color scheme to ease us from the present to the past.

The supporting cast more than stands up to Bates, too. Judy Parfitt is all too believable as Vera Donovan, especially in her younger incarnation--those of us who grew up in tourist towns are very familiar with this kind of harpy queen who comes to town and sets up shop for good. But the part isn't a simple caricature--those tears of anger and pride that Vera cries for Dolores and her daughter feel very real indeed. Christopher Plummer, with his mushy red nose and schoolteacher's diction, overdoes it a bit, perhaps, but it basically goes with the character he's been given. And David Strathairn's Joe St. George surely deserves a high place in the canon of Stephen King movie villains. Strathairn makes him as bad as can be, and yet there's occasionally a playful touch that *almost* makes us see why Dolores married him in the first place.

In the end, a rather underrated film, successful on many levels. 8.5. out of 10.