DOLORES CLAIBORNE

Name: DOLORES CLAIBORNE
Item: DOLORES CLAIBORNE
Author: Gaby Gaduh

Family Content: -3 Excessive sex, violence, immorality, and/or worldview problems. (Sometimes excessive content such as violence is in otherwise redemptive movies.)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

Content:

(B, Pa, NA, LLL, VV, SS, A, D) Ultimately moral worldview with Scripture quoted once in context; pagan lifestyles depicted; 49 obscenities & 25 profanities; multiple acts of spousal abuse & child abuse either shown or implied & revenge killing & beatings depicted graphically; explicit sexual conversations & father’s sexual abuse of daughter implied & depicted; alcoholism; and, drug abuse.

More Detail:

DELORES CLAIBORNE (Kathy Bates) is a murderer, or so it seems. With the opening scene of Vera Donnovan plunging down a staircase to her near-death, and Delores racing past her to ransack the kitchen for a rolling pin with which to complete the job, the stage is set for another of Steven King’s horror films. As it would happen, the mailman opens the door just as Delores stands over the broken body of Vera. His conclusion is obvious. Enter Detective John Mackey. Just as it appears certain that Delores will either give her confession, or be bound over for trial, her daughter, Selena, comes to the rescue. Though only a reporter, she fulfills the part of an efficient lawyer in the hearing before the Magistrate.In the end, Mackey must tell the truth.

DELORES CLAIBORNE is a powerful movie. Kathy Bates is totally convincing and consuming. The audience is kept without a clue, right to the end. The two major drawbacks are from a moral perspective. First, there is a drunken and abusive father who explicitly molests his 13-year-old daughter. Secondly, there is alcoholism and the abuse and explosive violence that can be expected in such a home. However, in the end the premise comes through: “tell the truth — truth will set you free!”