For over two decades, Dolores Claiborne, a house servant and caretaker played by Kathy Bates, has worked with steadfast loyalty for a demanding wealthy woman on a remote Maine island. When her elderly employee dies from a tumble down a stairway, she is informally held on suspicion of murder by the local police, who are working in conjunction with a mainland detective played by Christopher Plummer (
The Insider). Her estranged daughter, Selena, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh (
Annihilation), takes leave from her career as an ambitious New York City journalist to return home and assist Dolores, although the two of them have not seen each other in 15 years. As Selena, who thrives on alcohol and depression medication, struggles to build a bridge over past resentments toward her mother, she learns the horrifying truth behind her mother's current predicament and behind the mysterious death of her father, played by David Strathairn (
The Bourne Ultimatum).
The 1995 mystery drama,
Dolores Claiborne, is based on a 1992 novel of the same name by Stephen King, who, in the wake of his early career success with supernatural horror tales and grisly science fiction scares, was increasingly delving into psychological trauma stories featuring female characters. At the time of the novel's publication and the release of this movie adaptation during my college years, I was slow to warm up to this tonal shift in King's output, and I received both with half-hearted enthusiasm. In light of tonight's revisit of the film, however, I am pleased to report that my oversight has been remedied and that I now have a belated appreciation for this work on its own terms.
Dolores Claiborne, which was directed by Taylor Hackford (
An Officer and a Gentleman), is a slow-burner that benefits from the inherent gray bleakness of its setting, and from the somber mother-daughter dialogue exchanges between Bates's Dolores and Leigh's Selena. The title character's abusive past marriage and protective maternal instincts have made her into a long-suffering martyr of sorts, but the stone-faced Bates does not exude any semblance of self pity, and her demonstrations of inner steel are the emotional high points of the film. Although she won a Best Actress Academy Award in 1991 for her work in another Stephen King adaptation,
Misery, her role in this more subtle affair is equally compelling. With her jet black hair, Leigh, in turn, delivers a magnificent portrayal of a woman whose childhood trauma guides her day-to-day behavior as an adult.
More than anything, this movie conveys the toll that a lifetime of hard labor inflicts on people over a span of years. As Dolores observes,
“If you wanna know what kind of life a person had, just look at their hands.” The story of the older title character and the flashbacks of her younger self come together in a brilliant scene where both incarnations are hanging a line of clothes. Rarely in cinema has the rigor of daily indignities or the toughness that it takes to endure them for decades been so adeptly depicted.
I may not be compelled to revisit
Dolores Claiborne as often as I return to, say, Tobe Hooper's
Salem's Lot, Stanley Kubrick's
The Shining, or George A. Romero's
Creepshow, but it nonetheless excels as a memorable screen vantage point over a long under-appreciated side of King's dark fictional landscapes.
This Warner Archive Blu-ray delivers a presentation of
Dolores Claiborne that is beyond reproach, both in terms of audio and video quality, even if this may not be the first film that most of us reach for when trying to demo high definition capabilities to friends. I'm now enjoying the commentary track.
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
). While I wouldn't call this a "reference quality" movie, it's a great one for showing friends/family how much better Blu-Ray can look when compared to DVD.
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