Customer Reviews

Dolores Claiborne (Widescreen)

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

WOW...I won't go into any more detail than the previous reviewers did, as they have summed up my feelings too on this remarkable, underappreciated and underrated movie. Oscars should have gone to director Taylor Hackford, the cinematographer, Danny Elfman's haunting score, and the acting, oh my. Of course, Kathy Bates is overwhelming; Jennifer Jason Leigh has never been better; Christopher Plummer certainly sheds his "Sound of Music" persona; Judy Parfit is unbelievably effective as bitchy Vera, but her portrayal is so dimensional that we come to care for her; Ms. Parfit's scene with the pig musicbox playing "Happy Days Are Here Again" is brilliant. Also superb is Ellen Muth, who plays the young Selena, and John Reilly as the sheriff, who stands up to Plummer's state detective. Of course, one can't overlook David Straitharn as Dolores' cruel and abusive husband. His performance is so convincing that I don't think I'll like him in anything! My only regret is I didn't see this one earlier. Can we go back and do the 1995 Oscars over??
I loved this movie!!!! Stephen King should rank this and "The Green Mile" as his crowning adapted movies!

I'll start from the end : Kathy Bates playing a horrible person . Her own daughter hates her , everybody does ( including the viewers ). Little town in Maine ... she is a #1 suspect in a murder case of her employer . Detective on the case is an oldtimer , who was suspecting her in a death of her husband many years ago . How did I feel first half of this film ? I hated her sooo much . Case closed - she is guilty !
Then the second half came in ... I was so upset at myself ! There is always a second side on every coin .
Our feelings at 2 different sides of this story tear us apart and leave us confused and destroyed . Very different story based on a very different book by Stephen King .

Stephen King's 1992 novel comes to life with a truly great perfomance by Kathy Bates as
the title character, Dolores Claiborne, David Straitharn as her deceased husband Joe St.
George and Jennifer Jason Leigh as their prescription pill popping progeny, Selena St.
George.

This film and novel are from King's writing period of evil, not examined through supernatural
forces, but like "Gerald's Game" and "Misery", the evil that human beings do to other human
beings. Even their own flesh and blood...

The film opens with a fall down the stairs by Vera Donovan (Judy Parfitt, Dolores' employer
and wench of a woman, a marble rolling pin a dead body and a mailman who reports the
"goings on" to the local police detective, John Mackey, played by Christopher Plummer.

Dolores is hauled in for the murder of her employer but we soon find out that this isn't the
first time Dolores has been in trouble with the law! Her husband died of unknown causes
during the solar eclipse of 1975 and many islanders think that Dolores had something to do
with the death of her abusive husband.

The movie succession is filmed in many flashback sequences through the mind's eye of
Dolores that are just quite mesmerizing! Great cinematography and direction in this film, no
doubt!

Did Dolores kill her husband twenty years ago? Did she also murder her badgering witch of
a boss, Vera Donovan? What family secrets are hidden and what will be the outcome of
Dolores and her daughter, Selena?

Watch the film and find out for yourself!

Happy Watching!

Stephen King's 1992 novel comes to life with a truly great perfomance by Kathy Bates as the title character, Dolores Claiborne, David Straitharn as her deceased husband Joe St. George and Jennifer Jason Leigh as their prescription pill popping progeny, Selena St. George.

This film and novel are from King's writing period of evil, not examined through supernatural forces, but like "Gerald's Game" and "Misery", the evil that human beings do to other human beings. Even their own flesh and blood...

The film opens with a fall down the stairs by Vera Donovan (Judy Parfitt, Dolores' employer and wench of a woman, a marble rolling pin a dead body and a mailman who reports the "goings on" to the local police detective, John Mackey, played by Christopher Plummer.

Dolores is hauled in for the murder of her employer but we soon find out that this isn't the first time Dolores has been in trouble with the law! Her husband died of unknown causes during the solar eclipse of 1975 and many islanders think that Dolores had something to do with the death of her abusive husband.

The movie succession is filmed in many flashback sequences through the mind's eye of Dolores that are just quite mesmerizing! Great cinematography and direction in this film, no doubt!

Did Dolores kill her husband twenty years ago? Did she also murder her badgering b!tch of a boss, Vera Donovan? What family secrets are hidden and what will be the outcome of Dolores and her daughter, Selena?

Watch the film and find out for yourself!

Happy Watching!

The movie opens with what sounds like a fight and an elderly woman falling violently down the stairs. Dolores Claiborne (Kathy Bates) races down the steps, ransacks the kitchen and returns with a rolling pin. Poised to strike, she is caught by the mailman who has entered the house to deliver packages.

Dolores' estranged daughter Selena is summoned from NYC -- she has not visited in 15 years, ever since her own father died "in misadventure" although she suspects the killer was Dolores.

From here, the story of Dolores' relationships with both of her "victims" (her husband and her former employer, for whom she worked as a maid) is told in flashbacks. Particularly bad is her relationship with her husband, but how and why she finally decides to get rid of him is far more complicated than "why didn't she just leave"?

Christopher Plummer has a great role as the detective who is convinced Dolores got off too easy for her husband's death in 1975 and is determined that she pat double now. It's a far cry from when he was a captain with 7 children in "The Sound of Music"!

I never get tired of this drama. Kathy Bates, as a wisecracking maid, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, as her depressed and anxiety-prone daughter, are superb. A wonderful mix of comedy, tension, and suspense--masterfully directed.

VERY highly recommended.

Delores Claiborne (Kathy Bates) is a long-suffering (but still a strong, feisty) woman who is accused of murdering a woman she worked for in the past, and her estranged daughter, a reporter named Selena (Jennifer Jason Leigh) hears about the news, and as a result, is reunited with her mother to find out the truth. The reunion of the two causes both to reexamine past traumas that possibly should have been faced and expurgated ages ago, and as these painful memories are brought to the surface, things are never quite the same between the two -- especially for Selena, who seemed to have forgotten -- and/or wished she had forgotten certain experiences, which have caused her to become a somewhat closed-off, pill-popping woman who clearly seemed to have been suffering from some underlying psychologial issues.

While Delores is being accused of the current murder of her employer, a detective played by Christopher Plummer takes the case, and doggedly harasses Dolores, as he stubbornly adheres to the everlasting belief that she also murdered her husband in the past.

While based on a Stephen King novel, I'm strongly hesitant to tag this movie a horror flick as many others do in other places. Instead, I call this a mystery/suspense/drama. The dialogue is fairly complex, as many layers are uncovered regarding the psychological natures of Delores, Selena and other characters. As the scenes, dialogue and time progress, more and more things seem to unravel, up until the very end, when two disturbingly primal events are uncovered: one regarding Delores, and the other regarding Selena. From there, the story takes an unpredictable twist (which I will not reveal), but it's quite revelatory in how it all connects.

Kathy Bates shines here as the foul-mouthed, spunky woman who bears the least amount of shame with her personality, and it doesn't seem like much of a stretch for Kathy herself. Jennifer Jason Leigh excellently and convincingly portrays the beautiful, intriguing, yet troubled and vulnerable Selena. The scenes which take place in New England (as to be expected from S. King), maintain an atmospheric presence throughout the movie, as the events of the present feature landscapes shot in a beautifully melancholic, fog-like, autumnal blue shade, while the past events feature landscapes shot in a burnt orange color, which can only be comparable to that of a mid-autumn leaf. Pretty ironic, but it works quite well. Both aspects of this technique add an extra amount of depth and sincerity to the story. Also worth noting are what seem like New England accents, used by Kathy Bates (and selected others), which help to give the characters a homebred authenticity.

A film that possibly deserves more credit than it gets. Excellent story, excellent acting, excellent atmospherics and excellently written, I don't think I can name many (if any) flaws in this film. I highly enjoy this film. Recommended.

Unlike some of King's works, which have been major yawners when filmed for tv or the big screen, "Dolores Claiborne" is an artfully done, intriguing film. Kathy Bates portrays the title character, a hard-working, much put-up woman who still has spunk and self-respect.

Jennifer Jason Leigh, in the role of her alienated, substance-abusing daughter Selina, does a good job showing us her journey from
avoiding her mother, to embracing and understanding her.

King is in familiar territory here, writing about the island off the coast of Maine where the action takes place, a cool, green yet granite-hard piece of earth, where sometimes people's hearts can get as hard as that rock. The movie's flashbacks
show us what has brought Dolores and her Selina to their estrangement, and the satisfying denouement reunites them. Highly recommended.

If you are a Kathy Bates fan, then you must own this movie. I have watched this movie over and over again and still want more. She has a nack of getting you into her character and feeling like you were there. The story never has a dull moment up to the very end. As usual she does a supurb job as well as Jennifer Jason Leigh, and the rest of the cast.

It is a fantastic story of a woman whom is abused and ends up working for a very mean spirited rich woman as her maid, then care taker plus what all of this does to her daughter growing up. I don't want to give to much away, so see the movie.

Can't wait for the next Kathy Bates movie, I will be in line to see it.

This tale of murder, family dysfunction, and addiction was inexplicably ignored during Oscar time. When I first saw this film, I thought Kathy Bates had walked away with the Oscar for 1995 before she even set foot on the stage. Her Delores is such a beautifully, touchingly, crustily complex character that she just pops off the screen at you. And the writing has some of the best dialogue in years which still holds up.

The entire casting for this film was done beautifully. Leigh is typically intense, but does a nice turn as the victim of abuse (no shrinking violet here). And the character of Vera is just magic in her diabolical sweetness.

King crafts one of his finest works with this film, and the cinematography is breathtaking, not losing it's beauty on the small screen which is very difficult with this transition.

This is a film that multiple screenings enhance your understanding of it, and the extras make this too good a flick to pass up.