Kathy Bates as Dolores Claiborne in DOLORES CLAIBORNE

KATHY BATES

KATHY BATES as Dolores Claiborne in DOLORES CLAIBORNE

Maybe not a better movie than Misery. I like them both equally, but this is a more nuanced and layered performance - without question.

As a battered wife who finally, fatally fights back, Bates brings dignity to a tale that too often traffics in cliches. Her Dolores is never just a quivering martyr, and when the time comes for payback she doesn't serve it without a hint of regret. But the heart of the film is Dolores' interaction with her estranged daughter (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Their sparring alone should have caught Oscar's attention. This was definitely that suffered from a bad release date - early in the year.

Dolores Claiborne ( also titled ‘God the Queens love this Movie’ ) is a riveting screen adaptation of a 1992 Stephen King novel. Kathy Bates puts in a towering performance as Dolores Claiborne, a feisty, long-suffering, Maine mother who has spent most of her life working as a housekeeper for Vera (Judy Parfitt – Oscar worthy as well – in a signature supporting piece), a rich, domineering, and finicky woman. She is now suspected of killing her employer for an inheritance.

Kathy Bates does a terrific job in the title role, an unglamorous drudge with long-simmering angers and occasionally a sarcastic wit. She effectively plays a woman whose personality has been mostly rubbed away by disappointments and by the total lack of anyone to care for or about her. She suffers and puts away all her hopes and dreams for a daughter that doesn’t speak to her anymore. It’s by far one of the best aged performances in film – right up there with Sissy Spacek’s slow progression in COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER or Jessica Lange’s early scenes in FRANCES and Marion Cottilard's brilliant entire age progression in LA VIE EN ROSE. Bates plays both late twenties and late forties with careful depiction and grace without over-doing it. Her body language and walk are beaten and sad. Her side looks to her daughter, (Jennifer Jason Leigh at her twitchy best) in the car are both endearing and filled with humor. Suggesting the characters ability to still have a sense of insight to oneself.

On the first layer is the crust of this performance – the piss and vinegar – the rage of the character and then as you peel the layers back, you see that the heart of this woman is as strong as her bite. She lets her guard down when she first see’s Selena and the then the walls come back up when gazes at the man who’s trying to put her away – the man who’s been trying to put her away for twenty years – Christopher Plummer.

I thought Misery was her mainstream Signature role, but this is the one that had more meat in it. Same way I felt about Emma in HOWARD'S END and MERYL in THE FRENCH LIEUTENANTS WOMAN. To much direct intensity with no humor or inner reflection / insight. Maybe it's cause these film roles were their first big leads they wanted to get every line right but missed and completely be 'on the nose' and do the script exactly as written. Nothing wrong with that - god knows - but breathing and letting in your personality into the role and perspective and humor give the character more substance.

Another brilliant moment of acting to point out is the first of the films – which is played at larger length towards the end. Bates, distraught beyond reason, her gray hair completely disheveled, rushes downstairs to the body. She is breathless and lost. Not knowing exactly what she is going to do, she ransacks utensil drawers in the kitchen and returns clutching a rolling pin. She returns to the bottom of the broken stars, hoists the rolling-pin over her head. The old lady waits for the blow . . . She can’t, she can’t hurt this cruel old bag of bones, it’s her best friend. She loves her. It’s all right there on Kathy Bates face.

Powerful performance. The emotional endurance and commitment of this piece of acting is like no other. The guilt and buried pain of responsibility. Not a false note, from her laugh to the nightmare on the ferry with young Selena scrabbling her mind for the worst of the worst, (“my shit of a white trash of a husband is ‘f-ing’ my daughter”). Pure terror – the unimaginable is all possible – as long as you cast Kathy Bates.

My dear friend David Swor and I, in the early 90's, used the term 'killed' or 'kill' or 'killing' a lot. The word could be inter-changeable, good or bad depending on our mood, situation or person we were talking about. It's all about the inflection. Our friend Melissa, for example, was 'a killing' most of time, the hot guy we wanted to get closer to on the dance for was 'kill' and after seeing DOLORES CLAIBORNE we walked out of the movie and both said to one another at the same time "Girl, she killed it!" She should have won Oscar number two for her, three if you include the one she should have won for PRIMARY COLORS too. Like TOOTISE, I think I have every line of this one down. Girl, I'm Sick.