This film has it all: brilliant script, superb direction, great acting. It's a revenge melodrama, a dysfunctional family drama, a mystery/thriller, and a feminist take on the 'woman's picture', all rolled into one. Sixty years ago, Bette Davis would have had a field day with the title role, but back then Hollywood would never have had the nerve to make a picture with so radical a socio-political point of view. Hackford virtually re-invents the use of flashbacks, and the eclipse sequence is a classic. This film was pretty much ignored by critics when it was released, but it will be around long after most of 1995's films have passed into oblivion.
Review of Dolores Claiborne
