Roger Donaldson’s Marie offers an interesting if not quite fully satisfying biographical look into a principled woman fighting a corrupt political system.
The Production: 3/5
Until the Women’s Liberation Movement began to take hold in the early 1970s, there were few films that featured women taking on the system, but they became much more frequent in the years following the movement. Marie, directed by Roger Donaldson in 1985, is one such film: a docudrama on Marie Ragghianti who was forced to take on the state of Tennessee for unlawful dismissal from her job as head of the state’s parole board. The film scores familiar points showing an innocent taking on the corrupt system of good ol’ boy politics, but it finds itself diluted by also focusing on other intrusive demands on Marie’s life without probing too deeply into Marie herself.
Taking herself and her three young children out of a dangerously abusive marriage in 1973, Marie Ragghianti (Sissy Spacek) works multiple jobs and puts herself through college to make a better life for her family. Once graduating from Vanderbilt with a double major in English and psychology, Marie gets a job in the Tennessee governor’s office as Extradition Chairman courtesy of her school friend Eddie Sisk (Jeff Daniels), the governor’s (Don Hood) deputy assistant. Her work is so thorough and her relationships with D.A.’s throughout the state and in other states are so strong that she is promoted by the governor to lead the state’s parole board, much to the chagrin of now associate head Charles Traughber (Morgan Freeman). While Marie struggles with health issues with her youngest child (Shane Wexel), she also finds it troubling when evidence begins to surface that paroles and clemency are being sold for large sums of under-the-table money. With the encouragement of deputy state D.A. Kevin McCormack (Keith Szarabajka), Marie begins pushing back on these bad faith paroles and clemencies until it becomes clear to the big shots above her that she’s more a liability to their plans than an innocent dupe to their schemes. They begin to take action against her.
Based on the book Marie: A True Story by Peter Maas, the screenplay by Oscar-winning John Briley gives us a good cross section of the personal and professional life of the title character though character introductions of some of the background players in the schemes to extort money from families wishing their loved ones out of prison aren’t handled particularly well, and they become names we hear rather than characters we can easily bring to mind when they’re referenced. Director Roger Donaldson handles some of the more violent sequences of the film well: a home invasion, a rape at a tennis court, the murder of one of Marie’s closest friends, but the climactic trial sessions aren’t dripping with suspense or tautness as they should be (the smug looks on the faces of Marie’s opposition tells us all we need to know about their belief in their good ol’ boy system of rotten politics). Marie’s frightening bouts of dealing with her son’s precarious bronchial condition are riveting to watch, but they always seem to intrude into the growing momentum of the scandals into which she’s been thrust, and they keep the film’s pacing erratic and ultimately frustrating.
With her slight frame but fiery disposition, Sissy Spacek can always produce compelling results in a dramatic scenario, and she’s as effective as she can be here given that the script really doesn’t delve into Marie’s psychology nearly enough to give us a rounded portrait of what makes her tick. Jeff Daniels gets another of his charming-on-the-outside/weaselly-on-the-inside roles as Eddie Sisk who attempts to gloss over the bribes and extortions as merely business as usual. We keep expecting Keith Szarabajka’s Kevin McCormack to turn into Marie’s love interest, but the story never goes in that direction. Real life attorney Fred Thompson plays himself who represented Marie in her suit against Tennessee and does a fine job. John Cullum opposite him in court representing the state is also first-rate. Don Hood plays a very two-faced Governor Blanton, the ultimate picture of a crooked Southern politician of that era. Morgan Freeman isn’t given nearly enough to do as a fellow parole board member. Trey Wilson has some good moments as an FBI agent that Marie deals with, and Lisa Foster is likewise effective as Marie’s scheming secretary Sherry Lomax.
Video: 4.5/5
3D Rating: NA
The film’s original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1 is faithfully rendered in this 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. Though some establishing shots are rather soft, most of the rest of the image quality is very crisp and clear with excellent color and realistic flesh tones. There are no problems with age-related visual artifacts. The movie has been divided into 25 chapters.
Audio: 5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound mix is true to the sound qualities of the era’s movies. Dialogue has been well recorded and has been mixed well with Francis Lai’s background score and the various sound effects (pouring rain, which seems to happen during most of Marie’s most exasperating moments, comes through especially well in the mix). There are no issues with aural artifacts like hiss, crackle, pops, or flutter.
Special Features: 1/5
Theatrical Trailer (1:45, SD)
Overall: 3/5
Roger Donaldson’s Marie offers an interesting if not quite fully satisfying biographical look into a principled woman fighting a corrupt political system. The Warner Archive Blu-ray package doesn’t offer much in the way of bonus material, but the video and audio quality make it a pleasure to experience.
Matt has been reviewing films and television professionally since 1974 and has been a member of Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2007, his reviews now numbering close to three thousand. During those years, he has also been a junior and senior high school English teacher earning numerous entries into Who’s Who Among America’s Educators and spent many years treading the community theater boards as an actor in everything from Agatha Christie mysteries to Stephen Sondheim musicals.
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