Dolores Claiborne (1995) Review

Dolores Claiborne (1995) Review

Typically, Stephen King stories deal with some kind of supernatural threat, so whenever there’s one that doesn’t contain this subject matter, it’s kind of a big deal. His short stories “The Body” and “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”, were adapted into very successful dramas (Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption, respectively). But when it comes to his longer form stories that are non-supernatural and non-horror, there are hardly any. 

Dolores Claiborne is described as a psychological thriller, but I’d disagree. It’s neither that, nor is it straight-up horror, though there are plenty of horror elements in it. It’s a drama, and a bit of a mystery, with the way the story is told. 

It begins with the elderly woman who Dolores (Kathy Bates) cares for falling down the stairs, and what seems to have occurred is Dolores pushed her in an attempt to kill her, but after her estranged daughter (Jennifer Jason Leigh) returns to help her fight against the allegations, memories and stories from Dolores’ past shed new light on old events, and both mother and daughter reconnect while trying to prove her innocence (innocence about trying to kill the woman she cared for, anyway).   

The main thing to note about Dolores Claiborne is the cast. It’s pretty impressive, but the two leads are the standouts. Kathy Bates gives a great performance as the title character, and though it’s not quite as strong as another character she portrayed (also created by Stephen King, more on that movie before month’s end), she’s still the anchor that holds the movie together. Jennifer Jason Leigh is also great as the daughter, bringing an edge to her character, but she’s still relatable and sympathetic despite this. 

A large portion of the movie is told in flashbacks. For the most part, I found the flashback storyline actually more interesting than the present story. There’s enough stuff going on in the past that it could’ve been its own movie, but the way past and present are interwoven is, mostly, successful. The transitions from present to past and back again are pretty creative and well executed, but after a while, it starts to feel tiresome. 

The age makeup for many of the characters, including Dolores, is subtle but extremely well done. At first I didn’t even register that it was makeup, but as it showed the characters over the range of time, I picked up on it. Dolores’ aging, though, seems to be less extreme in comparison to others. I guess a big compliment is Kathy Bates didn’t end up looking as old in real life as she did here. 

A big hook for me was the initial mystery of why Dolores tried to kill the old woman in the beginning, but this question gets answered halfway through the movie, which initially surprised me, because I wasn’t sure what there would be left to discover, but then it gets into more back story about her daughter and her relationship with her abusive alcoholic father (David Strathairn) which I didn’t find as intriguing at first, so it took me out of the movie for a while, but the final revelations near the end brought it back for me.    

This is not a fun movie by any means. It deals with some very dark subject matter, and is pretty realistic about it, too. The cinematography for the present narrative is dark and dour, but the flashbacks are more brightly tinted, which makes for some interesting contrast, but the whole movie has a bleakness to it. There’s little in the way of comedy relief, making the overall experience pretty depressing. I can’t fault the movie for that, but it definitely felt overbearing at points. 

So is Dolores Claiborne good? Yeah, it is. I appreciated the movie for how well it was crafted, but I can’t say I found it very enjoyable. It’s not something I can see just putting on for a fun watch. It doesn’t have the re-watch-ability of something like Shawshank Redemption or Stand By Me, but is, admittedly, well made, and worth seeing for the performances alone.