Dolores Claiborne (film)
Encyclopedia
Dolores Claiborne is a 1995 film based on the novel of the same name
by Stephen King
, starring Kathy Bates
and Jennifer Jason Leigh
. It was directed by Taylor Hackford
.
), after which Vera falls down the stairs. Dolores ransacks the kitchen and is then caught by a mailman as she stands over Vera with a rolling pin, apparently intending to kill Vera. Vera dies and Dolores is charged with her murder.
Dolores' daughter, Selena St. George (Leigh), a journalist, arrives in town to support her mother. Dolores insists that she did not kill her wealthy employer, but she finds little sympathy, as the entire town believes she murdered her husband, Joe St. George (David Strathairn
) almost 20 years earlier. Detective John Mackey (Christopher Plummer
), the chief detective in her husband's murder case, is determined to put Dolores away for life
.
Selena also believes that Dolores killed her father, and so has not spoken to her mother in over a decade. As the film develops, it is revealed that Joe was an abusive
alcoholic, and that one night she had threatened to kill him if he ever harmed her again. The film's flashbacks also reveal that Dolores started to suspect Joe of molesting Selena. Dolores went to work for Vera Donovan as a housemaid in order to raise enough money for her to take Selena and flee Joe's wrath, but the plan backfired when Joe started stealing the money from Selena's account.
Back in the present, Dolores says that Vera had begged Dolores to kill her, something Mackey refuses to believe; he reveals that Vera has left her entire fortune to Dolores. Mackey informs them that the will is eight years old, which nearly convinces Selena that her mother is guilty. After a fierce argument, Selena storms out, leaving her mother to fend for herself.
Dolores finally decides that it is time to reveal the truth to Selena: She did in fact kill Joe, and it was actually Vera who suggested the plan to her. Dolores says that she had been pushed to the breaking point upon finding out that Joe had been molesting
his own daughter, which Selena furiously denies.
In a flashback to a scene some 20 years before, Vera engages in her regular ritual of berating Dolores, who breaks down crying and confesses her troubled home life. An uncharacteristically sympathetic Vera implies that she killed her recently deceased husband Jack, and engineered it to look like an accident. Vera's confession forms a bond between the two women and allows Dolores to take control of her own situation and future.
As a total solar eclipse
approaches, Dolores sends Selena away for the week to work at a hotel to raise money from the high number of tourists. Joe soon returns from a holiday, and as a "treat," Dolores buys him a bottle of whisky. After Joe gets drunk, Dolores reveals that she knows that Joe has been stealing from Selena's account and molesting his own daughter. Dolores lures Joe into falling down an old well, leaving him to die as he plunges to the stone bottom.
Selena hears the story on a tape left for her by Dolores, who had foreseen her departure. While on the ferry, Selena suddenly uncovers a long-repressed memory
of her father molesting her, and realizes that Dolores had killed Joe to protect her. She rushes back to her mother, who is attending the coroner's inquest
, in which Mackey makes a case she be sent to a grand jury
in an attempt to indict her for murder. Selena tells the police they have no evidence and that despite an often-stormy relationship, Vera and Dolores loved each other. Knowing that he has no admissible evidence, Mackey reluctantly drops the case.
Dolores and Selena make amends on a wharf before Selena returns to New York. The film ends with Dolores preparing to start a new life with the fortune she has inherited from Vera.
; Digby
and Brier Island, Nova Scotia provided the ferry and wharf-side scenes. A house in Blue Rocks, Nova Scotia served as the St. George family home. Chester, Nova Scotia
, Riverport, Nova Scotia at the Confidence Lodge, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
and Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
provided other locations.
Dolores Claiborne
Dolores Claiborne is a 1992 psychological thriller novel by Stephen King. The novel is narrated by the title character. Atypically for a King novel, it has no chapters, double-spacing between paragraphs, or other section breaks; thus the text is a single continuous narrative which reads like a...
by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, starring Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
and Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts...
. It was directed by Taylor Hackford
Taylor Hackford
Taylor Edwin Hackford is an American film director, and the current president of the Directors Guild of America.-Early life:Hackford was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Mary , a waitress, and Joseph Hackford...
.
Plot
Dolores Claiborne (Bates), a middle-aged but strong-willed woman who works as a domestic servant in a coastal town in Maine, is heard having an argument with her elderly, paralyzed employer Vera Donovan (Judy ParfittJudy Parfitt
Judy Parfitt is a BAFTA-nominated English theatre, film and television actress who began her career on stage in 1954.-Life and work:...
), after which Vera falls down the stairs. Dolores ransacks the kitchen and is then caught by a mailman as she stands over Vera with a rolling pin, apparently intending to kill Vera. Vera dies and Dolores is charged with her murder.
Dolores' daughter, Selena St. George (Leigh), a journalist, arrives in town to support her mother. Dolores insists that she did not kill her wealthy employer, but she finds little sympathy, as the entire town believes she murdered her husband, Joe St. George (David Strathairn
David Strathairn
David Russell Strathairn is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck...
) almost 20 years earlier. Detective John Mackey (Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
), the chief detective in her husband's murder case, is determined to put Dolores away for life
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
.
Selena also believes that Dolores killed her father, and so has not spoken to her mother in over a decade. As the film develops, it is revealed that Joe was an abusive
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
alcoholic, and that one night she had threatened to kill him if he ever harmed her again. The film's flashbacks also reveal that Dolores started to suspect Joe of molesting Selena. Dolores went to work for Vera Donovan as a housemaid in order to raise enough money for her to take Selena and flee Joe's wrath, but the plan backfired when Joe started stealing the money from Selena's account.
Back in the present, Dolores says that Vera had begged Dolores to kill her, something Mackey refuses to believe; he reveals that Vera has left her entire fortune to Dolores. Mackey informs them that the will is eight years old, which nearly convinces Selena that her mother is guilty. After a fierce argument, Selena storms out, leaving her mother to fend for herself.
Dolores finally decides that it is time to reveal the truth to Selena: She did in fact kill Joe, and it was actually Vera who suggested the plan to her. Dolores says that she had been pushed to the breaking point upon finding out that Joe had been molesting
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
his own daughter, which Selena furiously denies.
In a flashback to a scene some 20 years before, Vera engages in her regular ritual of berating Dolores, who breaks down crying and confesses her troubled home life. An uncharacteristically sympathetic Vera implies that she killed her recently deceased husband Jack, and engineered it to look like an accident. Vera's confession forms a bond between the two women and allows Dolores to take control of her own situation and future.
As a total solar eclipse
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
approaches, Dolores sends Selena away for the week to work at a hotel to raise money from the high number of tourists. Joe soon returns from a holiday, and as a "treat," Dolores buys him a bottle of whisky. After Joe gets drunk, Dolores reveals that she knows that Joe has been stealing from Selena's account and molesting his own daughter. Dolores lures Joe into falling down an old well, leaving him to die as he plunges to the stone bottom.
Selena hears the story on a tape left for her by Dolores, who had foreseen her departure. While on the ferry, Selena suddenly uncovers a long-repressed memory
Recovered memory
Recovered memory is the description given to the apparent resurrection of the memory of events that had been forgotten or suppressed for a relatively long time. Retrograde amnesia secondary to physical or emotional trauma , or the suppression of painful memories from any cause, is an accepted concept...
of her father molesting her, and realizes that Dolores had killed Joe to protect her. She rushes back to her mother, who is attending the coroner's inquest
Inquest
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...
, in which Mackey makes a case she be sent to a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
in an attempt to indict her for murder. Selena tells the police they have no evidence and that despite an often-stormy relationship, Vera and Dolores loved each other. Knowing that he has no admissible evidence, Mackey reluctantly drops the case.
Dolores and Selena make amends on a wharf before Selena returns to New York. The film ends with Dolores preparing to start a new life with the fortune she has inherited from Vera.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Kathy Bates Kathy Bates Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe... |
Dolores Claiborne |
| Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts... |
Selena St. George |
| Judy Parfitt Judy Parfitt Judy Parfitt is a BAFTA-nominated English theatre, film and television actress who began her career on stage in 1954.-Life and work:... |
Vera Donovan |
| Christopher Plummer Christopher Plummer Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five... |
Detective John Mackey |
| David Strathairn David Strathairn David Russell Strathairn is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck... |
Joe St. George |
| Eric Bogosian Eric Bogosian Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,... |
Peter |
| John C. Reilly John C. Reilly John Christopher Reilly, Jr. is an American film and theater actor, singer, and comedian. Debuting in Casualties of War in 1989, he is one of several actors whose careers were launched by Brian De Palma. To date, he has appeared in more than fifty films, including three separate films in 2002... |
Constable Frank Stamshaw |
| Ellen Muth Ellen Muth Ellen Anna Muth is an American actress, known for her role as George Lass in Showtime's series Dead Like Me. Muth is a member of Intertel and Mensa.-Career:... |
Young Selena |
| Bob Gunton Bob Gunton Robert Patrick "Bob" Gunton, Jr. is an American actor. He is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters, with his best known roles as Warden Samuel Norton in the 1994 prison film The Shawshank Redemption, Chief George Earle in 1993's Demolition Man, and President Juan Peron in the original... |
Mr. Pease |
| Roy Cooper | Magistrate |
| Wayne Robson Wayne Robson Wayne Robson was a Canadian television, film and stage actor best known for playing the part of Mike Hamar, an ex-convict and sometime thief, on the Canadian sitcom The Red Green Show from 1993 to 2006, as well as in the 2002 film Duct Tape Forever.Robson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia... |
Sammy Marchant |
| Ruth Marshall Ruth Marshall Ruth Marshall is a Canadian actress from Toronto, Ontario. She is best known for her role in the hit television series Flashpoint. She graduated with a degree in English from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and then returned to Toronto to pursue a career in acting.She has appeared the... |
Secretary |
| Weldon Allen | Bartender |
| Tom Gallant | Searcher |
| Kelly Burnett Kelly Burnett James Kelvin Burnett is a former Canadian ice hockey centre. He played in the NHL for the New York Rangers.-External links:... |
Jack Donovan |
Locations
The film was shot in Westport, Nova ScotiaWestport, Nova Scotia
Westport, Nova Scotia is a village in Digby County, Nova Scotia and it is located on Brier Island in the Bay of Fundy. The village was incorporated in 1946. A ferry service connects the village with Freeport, Nova Scotia on Long Island...
; Digby
Digby
- Canada :* Digby County, Nova Scotia** Digby, Nova Scotia, town** Digby, Nova Scotia , eastern half of Digby County*** Digby/Annapolis Regional Airport** Digby Neck, peninsula in Digby County...
and Brier Island, Nova Scotia provided the ferry and wharf-side scenes. A house in Blue Rocks, Nova Scotia served as the St. George family home. Chester, Nova Scotia
Chester, Nova Scotia
Chester is an incorporated Canadian village located in and part of Nova Scotia's Chester Municipal District in the southeastern part of Lunenburg County.-History:...
, Riverport, Nova Scotia at the Confidence Lodge, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg , is a Canadian port town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.Situated on the province's South Shore, Lunenburg is located on a peninsula at the western side of Mahone Bay. The town is approximately 90 kilometres southwest of the county boundary with the Halifax Regional Municipality.The...
and Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Mahone Bay is a town located on the northwest shore of Mahone Bay along the South Shore of Nova Scotia in Lunenburg County.- History :...
provided other locations.