"Sometimes, being a bitch is all a woman has to hang onto"
Thursday, July 30, 2015 at 1:00PM
As we continue celebrating 1995 with the imminent Smackdown, here’s Murtada with a new edition of Great Moments in Screen Bitchery.
Remember the endless jokes last year about that often repeated line in The Imitation Game (We won’t repeat it here - you've heard it enough). Well in Dolores Claiborne a better line is repeated by different characters at different times and yet no one cringes. It's so good you relish it instead. In fact I’d go as far as to say the line is what the movie is all about. Say it with us after the jump...
Illustration by Gary Smith
Sometimes, being a bitch is all a woman has to hang onto.
The scene that sets up the first delivery of the line - chronologically within the story if not actually in the film - is the one we're in love with.
It starts innocuously enough with Dolores dusting as her employer Vera Donovan saunters into the room.
Vera : Dolores as soon as the caterers arrive I want you to make sure ‘they have everything they need. I made a list. Do you hear me? (Dolores is weeping).
Are we quite finished? Pamela do put on some tea.
Dolores : (through her tears) I’m sorry Mrs. Donovan. I truly am.
Vera : Vera. I insist that all women who have hysterics in my drawing room call me by my christian name.
The scene is a classic of bitchiness. Parfitt delivers one bitchy line after another. A series of brilliant bitchy come ons , put downs, pithy throwouts. She’s brimming with bitchiness and relishes every bit. Other choice lines :
Well, don't look to me, Dolores. All my money is tied up in cash.
It's a depressingly masculine world we live in, Dolores.
Husbands die every day, Dolores. Why... one is probably dying right now while you're sitting here weeping. They die... and leave their wives their money. I should know, shouldn't I? Sometimes they're driving home from their mistress's apartment and their brakes suddenly fail. An accident, Dolores, can be an unhappy woman's best friend.
Then later on is the big scene that sets the denouement going. And that line. This time delivered by Parfitt herself, after we’ve heard it before tossed out by both Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
See it in all its glory starting at the 334 minute mark. (The first part of this video also includes the the set up scene we talked about above).
The performance is stellar and surprisingly full of nuance and range. We get to see Parfitt as an old woman in the scenes set in the present framing the story. Throughout it all Parfitt is perfect modulating steely determination, showing us how the bitch became so embittered as an invalid but still keeping her strength even when her physical power is gone.
Alas Parfitt wasn’t nominated. It could be the lukewarm reception the film received, both critically and commercially. Possibly the early Spring release date. I think it is because the film itself doesn’t work; it is too dour and serious and not campy enough. Parfitt’s scenes are a delight, but the rest is a drag to sit through.(ahem JJL).
It’s a pity because the nomination could have led to a bigger career for Parfitt. Think Brenda Blethyn or Jacki Weaver. All we got from Parfitt stateside is a guest spot on ER and a recent stint on Call the Midwife.
Is the love for this performance only in hindsight? If you cried “Parfitt was robbed” at the time speak out!
Reader Comments (20)
Totally agree with this assessment on the missed opportunities a nomination might have afforded
Parfitt. I suggest viewing her performance in the British counter spy drama , "The Game", And she nailed the germanic Queen Mary in "W.E."
I think it is because the film itself doesn’t work; it is too dour and serious and not campy enough.
It was never intended to be campy. Unlike Misery, where humor was key to keeping the movie realistic and entertaining, Claiborne is a genuine domestic drama. Taylor Hackford might have been all wrong as the director.
I really liked the movie as a whole and think it´s one of the best S. King adaptations...but that´s not saying much I guess.
I can just see that "breaks fail" speech being her Oscar clip,i am in love witht his performance and have been for 20 yrs,even though my 95 supporting actress ballot has altered over the years no Sorvino anymore,Parfitt stays at 2 behind Allen and infront of Winningham with Winslet and Huston filling out spots 4 and 5.
Enjoyed this write up more than the film itself, which I only just saw about a year ago. This particular line actually did make me cringe, though, for reasons that you even indicate above. Parfitt plays it to the hilt, but I can't decode the self-seriousness that surrounds this line. It wouldn't do to telegraph camp intentions, but instead they frame this moment like it is both profound and grave, when neither really tracks. The repetition made me bristle, too - feels like an overt effort to coin a catchphrase...
Dan - thanks for the suggestions
3rtful - the campy elements were in Parfitt's which I enjoyed the most. You might be right about Hackford.
Great write up about the performance all though I agree with you about the film overall because while the flashbacks to Bates and Parfitt are the best scenes the rest of the film is good enough to support these scenes and for me is one of the best of 1995. No one ever knows why a film is not embraced by the Oscars but the performances given by our three ladies were especially strong and would've deserved nominations. Overall the 1995 Oscars were weak in comparison to films that were released so it's not a shock they didn't embrace this movie because for some reason the Oscar voters of 1995 wanted to vote for the worst and average. While Parfitt is a close winner for me ultimately my pick for supporting actress is Rachel Griffiths. In Muriel's Wedding she is so fun and even as her character seems to lose it all Griffiths is so good in the role that I wish this had been her Oscar nomination instead of her nom that came in 1998. Also in 1995 my supporting actress ballot would be:
Joan Allen, Nixon
Illena Douglas, To Die For
Rachel Griffiths, Muriel's Wedding
Brittany Murphy, Clueless
Judy Parfitt, Dolores Claiborne
GR8 BALLOT.
The acting in "Delores" was terrific by the ensemble cast--but Judy Parfitt gave a classic supporting performance. And this IS the year Jennifer Tilly somehow snagged the supporting actress Oscar, right? Right up there with Marissa Tomei for least deserved wins in said category!
Hope it's okay to plug another blog...
Poseidon's Underworld recently did a terrific post on Parfitt's career--check it out:
http://neptsdepths.blogspot.com/2015/07/parfitt-for-course.html
rickgould, Dianne Wiest, Tilly's Bullets over Broadway castmate, won the year prior to this. Mira Sorvino won for 1995's Mighty Aphrodite.
I've always been in love with this performance and still wonder how it never gained any type of awards traction, especially because her delivery of that monologue is SO Oscar-clip ready. I mean, it's the type of moment upon which many nominations hinge.
Yes Judy was robbed of a nomination for this brilliant piece of work. She would have been my choice for winner had she been given the nod. An acknowledgement for this probably would have lead to a big US career but she's had an estimable one in her homeland.
rickgould-I thought of that great profile over on Poseidon's Underworld too as soon as I saw the headline for this article. That's another great site for cinema lovers.
Love the movie. It's so watchable and yes, Parfitt is better than Quinlan.
If anything, JJL's performance is uncomfortable to sit through, but in any way makes the movie a drag. I particularly believe the realism of the pain she is trying to conceal from everyone including herself is the reason the stakes are so high. After all, her character and her abuse is the catalyst to everything that happens to Dolores. You never get less then full commitment from JJL and I understand that can be difficult to watch (see also Georgia, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Dorothy Parker...everything, really).
can we get a round of applause for this fantastic illustration --- it was made especially for this post!
Funny, I nearly mentioned Mighty Aphrodite's Mira Sorvino as another one-note Oscar-winning performance...sigh.
Nathaniel - yes a great illustration. So many great ones at that link. Thanks for drawing attention to it.
I always felt guilty loving this movie, thank god for thefilmexperience!
Kathy Bates sure loved getting beaten up onscreen a lot in the 90s.
Kathy Bates sure loved getting beaten up onscreen a lot in the 90s.
She hated it. Aside from personality and technique differences between her costar, Misery was an especially stressful experience for her due to the violence.
How come no one here is discussing Dolores Claiborne as the one of the last big studio produced woman's picture? Anything not a romantic comedy starring women is a proper woman's picture (excluding the progressive James Cameron involved productions).
Fantastic illustration, Nat! Kudos to Gary.
Judy Parfitt is just divine in Dolores Claiborne. While *I* would've nominated her in '95 -- and I do remember being captivated by her performance back then -- I do think Mira Sorvino is (somewhat) unfairly maligned. It's been forever since I've seen Mighty Aphrodite, but I recall her being the best thing about it...by far.