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Marlene (2020 film)

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Marlene
Film poster
Directed byWendy Hill-Tout
Written byWendy Hill-Tout
Cathy Ostlere
Produced byWendy Hill-Tout
StarringKristin Booth
Greg Bryk
CinematographyCharles Hamilton
Edited byBridget Durnford
Music byJanal Bechthold
Production
company
Voice Pictures
Release date
  • September 24, 2020 (2020-09-24) (TIFF)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Marlene is a 2020 Canadian docudrama film, directed by Wendy Hill-Tout.[1] The film centres on the case of Steven Truscott, a Canadian man who spent many years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a murder he did not commit, through the eyes of his wife Marlene.[2]

The film stars Kristin Booth as Marlene Truscott, and Greg Bryk as Steven Truscott.[3] Julia Sarah Stone and Dempsey Bryk also appear as the younger Marlene and Steven in flashback scenes.[3]

The film was shot in 2019, with the working title Chasing Justice.[2] It premiered at the 2020 Calgary International Film Festival.[4] It was subsequently screened at the 2020 Whistler Film Festival.

Reception

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Chris Knight of the National Post gave the film two out of five stars and wrote, "I wish I'd loved Marlene – I was certainly educated by it. But the film tends to overplay its emotional hand, whether through Janal Bechthold's overpowering (and, to its credit, Canadian Screen Award nominated) score or a tendency for the characters to dramatize their every feeling."[5]

Liam Lacey of Original Cin gave the film a C and wrote that it's "a melodramatic muddle, a flashback-loaded, over-orchestrated, and confusing legal story wrapped in a gauzy romance story."[6]

Awards

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Janal Bechthold received an aforementioned Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Score at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021.[7] The film was a runner-up for the 2020 Whistler Film Festival Audience Award.[8]

References

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  1. ^ Julian Sher (December 12, 2020). "Fictional new movie packs 'emotional truth' of Steven Truscott's wrongful conviction for reporter who helped expose the case". Toronto Star.
  2. ^ a b Eric Volmers, "Calgary film retells Steven Truscott's wrongful conviction story through eyes of his wife". Calgary Herald, November 13, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Norman Wilner, "Five buzzy films to stream at the Whistler Film Festival". Now, December 1, 2020.
  4. ^ Eric Volmers, "Homegrown cinema: Calgary International Film Festival to put focus on Alberta this year". Calgary Herald, August 20, 2020.
  5. ^ "Film review: Marlene revisits the Steven Truscott case". National Post. April 8, 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  6. ^ "Marlene: The Muddled Melodrama of The Woman Behind Steven Truscott". Original Cin. April 13, 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  7. ^ "Canadian Screen Awards Announces 2021 Film Nominations". ET Canada. March 30, 2021. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021.
  8. ^ Craig Takeuchi, "Québécois folk artist documentary wins 2020 Whistler Film Festival Audience Award". The Georgia Straight, December 28, 2020.
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