Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (August 19, 2024)
Based on a book called Marie: A True Story, it would seem like false advertising if 1985’s Marie didn’t tell a tale that revolved around factual events. And you know what? It does!
Set in the mid-1970s, Marie Ragghianti (Sissy Spacek) leaves her abusive husband and takes her three young kids to her childhood home in Tennessee. After she works her way through college, she gets a job under newly-elected governor Ray Blanton (Don Hood).
Eventually Marie becomes the leader of the Tennessee parole board. When she learns of illegal actions from her superiors, she becomes a whistle-blower despite the potential negative price involved.
We find a lot of talent involved with Marie. Veteran director Roger Donaldson operates behind the camera, and in addition to Spacek, the cast features Jeff Daniels, Morgan Freeman, Trey Wilson and Fred Dalton Thompson.
Combined with a compelling true story, all of that means Marie should deliver a bracing drama. Instead, it ends up as a borderline comedic mess.
To call Marie melodramatic would act as a severe understatement. That said, I can’t blame the actors, as they try to play things straight.
Unfortunately, director Roger Donaldson casts the entire enterprise in such over the top tones that Marie consistently seems overcooked and silly.
We get absurdly ominous music too much of the time, and the movie tears through a litany of Marie’s struggles so rapidly that it turns almost laughable. Within the first few minutes, Marie’s husband beats her, she departs in a panic and then one of her kids nearly dies due to choking.
That seems like a lot to throw at the audience right out of the gate, and Donaldson continues the dizzying pace even after Marie’s life settles. By the film’s 10-minute mark, Marie’s also gotten a new job and gone through college.
I get that Marie wants to concentrate on what happens with the corruption the lead experiences in the Tennessee state government, but this all becomes too much, especially much of it seems unnecessary. Given that the narrative needs to focus on Marie’s stance against shading goings-on, a lot of her backstory feels less than relevant.
Sure, we need to know Marie’s troubled roots, but the film could deliver that information in a less frantic manner. Also, the scenes related to the son who nearly died feel tangential, especially because those elements crop up throughout the film.
I guess Donaldson wanted us to see Marie’s family life, and her insistence that her kid’s chronic health issues related to a swallowed pistachio shell demonstrates her persistence. Nonetheless, these sequences really make the movie drag and add too little in the long run.
In addition, much of Marie feels like an homage to its lead actor’s looks. We get incessant scenes in which characters talk about how beautiful and sexy Marie is.
None of this serves the story in the slightest, and it all feels like balm for Spacek’s ego. This is the kind of nonsense that bogs down Streisand films and it detracts from Marie as well.
Honestly, Marie feels like a vanity project for Spacek, one that she probably hoped would earn her a second Oscar.
Instead, Marie just becomes a silly melodrama. Spacek offers a credible performance and enjoys the support of talented castmates, but she works in the service of a ridiculous movie.
Billing footnote: although the book was called Marie: A True Story and this Blu-ray uses that title, it appears the film ran just as Marie in 1985 so I went with that.
