When "Dolores Claiborne" came out, I was about 13 or 14 years old and had just discovered the horror story adaptations of Stephen King. However, my first steps into his oeuvre were titles like "Silver Bullet", "Maximum Overdrive" and "Sleepwalkers", and since this is a totally different style and type of thriller, the teenage-me found "Dolores Claiborne" very dull. It took me another almost 30 years to realize it's one of King's best and most sophisticated adaptations.
It's a sober and integer thriller, with three incredibly strong female lead performances and a script that contains a couple of controversial but very socially relevant and courageous themes. New York reporter Selena (Leigh) returns to her hometown, a little island off the Maine coast, for the first time in 15 years because her mother (Bates) is accused of having killed her elderly and wealthy employer (Parfitt). Their relationship is diluted, since Selena always believed her mother was also responsible for the freak-accident in which her alcoholic and abusive father died. Local police inspector John Mackey also believes this, and he's dedicated to convict her for murder this time.
Many of the numerous flashback sequences are unnecessary and overwrought, but they do help director Taylor Hackford with the building up of a tense and foreboding atmosphere throughout. The performances by Bates and Parfitt also make "Dolores Claiborne" somewhat reminiscent to an "hagsploitation" movie; - a horror subgenre we haven't seen since the sixties (with classics like "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", "The Nanny", "What's the matter with Helen"). Because of this, the script contains a few wonderful quotes like: "it is a depressively masculine world we live in, Dolores", or: "Sometimes, being a (insert popular synonym for strong and confident woman here), is all a woman has to hang onto."
Finally, the filming locations are absolutely stupendous! Contrary to what the plot states, we're not in Maine but on the breath-taking Canadian province of Nova Scotia, which must be one of the most beautiful places on earth.
It's a sober and integer thriller, with three incredibly strong female lead performances and a script that contains a couple of controversial but very socially relevant and courageous themes. New York reporter Selena (Leigh) returns to her hometown, a little island off the Maine coast, for the first time in 15 years because her mother (Bates) is accused of having killed her elderly and wealthy employer (Parfitt). Their relationship is diluted, since Selena always believed her mother was also responsible for the freak-accident in which her alcoholic and abusive father died. Local police inspector John Mackey also believes this, and he's dedicated to convict her for murder this time.
Many of the numerous flashback sequences are unnecessary and overwrought, but they do help director Taylor Hackford with the building up of a tense and foreboding atmosphere throughout. The performances by Bates and Parfitt also make "Dolores Claiborne" somewhat reminiscent to an "hagsploitation" movie; - a horror subgenre we haven't seen since the sixties (with classics like "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", "The Nanny", "What's the matter with Helen"). Because of this, the script contains a few wonderful quotes like: "it is a depressively masculine world we live in, Dolores", or: "Sometimes, being a (insert popular synonym for strong and confident woman here), is all a woman has to hang onto."
Finally, the filming locations are absolutely stupendous! Contrary to what the plot states, we're not in Maine but on the breath-taking Canadian province of Nova Scotia, which must be one of the most beautiful places on earth.