Marlene (2020 film)

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]

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

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

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

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
  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. Eric Volmers, "Calgary film retells Steven Truscott's wrongful conviction story through eyes of his wife". Calgary Herald, November 13, 2019.
  3. 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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