Stephen King Month: Dolores Claiborne

4 Stars - good

Dolores Claiborne was part of an interesting thing Stephen King did, where in the same year he put out both Dolores Claiborne and Gerald's Game, both of which had a moment based around a solar eclipse where the main character of both had a psychic vision of the other. There's no film of Gerald's Game, but I feel it's worth mentioning.

Dolores Claiborne is in a police station answering questions regarding the suspicious death of her elderly employer. She proceeds to tell a long story about how although she didn't kill her boss, she did kill her husband many years ago after discovering he had molested their daughter.

The book is a fairly simple plot, but also a fairly gruelling read, as it is written as one long continuous monologue, with not chapters or breaks in the narrative whatsoever. The film is different, it tells most of the story through flashback with several joining points in between set in the present. Kathy Bates gives a magnificent performance as Dolores and is matched by a great supporting cast, including Christopher Plummer and a baby faced John C. Reilly.

As an adaptation I'd say it's good, capturing all the important elements of the story, but presenting them in a way that is more interesting to watch and plays out more naturally than it would be to see the entire film being Kathy Bates sat at a table telling the story.

Sometimes Being A Bitch Is All A Woman Has To Hold Onto

In short, a good, if difficult, book and a pretty good film too.