Jolene (2008)

Director: Dan Ireland

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Frances Fisher, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Vartan, Dermot Mulroney... and small appearance from other familiar actor/actresses

Description: I will describe it in my own words because the Netflix (Yes, movie is available instant streaming on Netflix) description doesn't correctly describe it correctly...

So the movie follows the life of Jolene (Jessica Chastain) who is an orphan that grew up in foster care her whole life. The movie starts as she is 15 years old. With her lack of experience and judgement and parents for that matter, she makes mistakes over and over and things go from good to bad to better and to worse... I don't want to give the movie away in this description part but in a new post I'll discuss my thoughts.

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***SPOILERS***
I give it a solid 4/5 stars.

I found the movie to be very emotional and Jessica Chastain did a great job showing off her talent with being over joyed, heartbroken, and victimized. I liked that pretty much every actor was recognizable and all played their parts out well. At the end I have some questions to ask those of you who've seen this but I'll finish my personal review first. Well, of course when in the beginning she's getting married at age 15, you know it's not going to end well but still, I liked Jolene and Mickey together. Even though the Aunt was mean-well, not accepting- to Jolene, I felt that was very realistic since Jolene was now living at their home married to their nephew and I liked her. I hated the Uncle, however. He made me sick that at his age (mid 40s) he was sleeping with Jolene at age 15 when he was a married man and Jolene was his married nephews WIFE. Plus it disgusted me because they knew Jolene grew up in foster care where her "daddy's would touch her and her mommy's would always be mad at her". I don't know how to explain but I wasn't mad at her about it because she was so young and impressionable (and the way she grew up so far- i'm betting she had a real low selfesteem). That Uncle though, he was a real monster. And I was really sad for Mickey because he loved Jolene with all his heart. When he kills himself I really felt bad for Jolene because now she has to live with that the rest of her life. Since she has no place to go once Mickey is dead she gets sent to a Mental Facility to stay at until she is 18 but there this nurse (Frances Fisher) falls in love with Jolene and sneaks her out. I didn't really care much for this one- actually I thought it was kind of out of place in the movie... but anyways, she runs away from the Nurses house and hitch hikes her way to Phoenix AZ where she meets Coco. I didn't like this guy either and he really screws up her life (in the future to come). He's this rock-star wanna be drug addict tattoo business owner and with his wacky ways woo's Jolene and she ends up getting married to him. She is already starting to get fed up with his drug problems but is thrown over the edge when she finds out he in married and has a child she destroys his business and moves to Las Vegas. She was working as a stripper when Sal (Chazz Palminteri) spots her out and invites her to live with him. I liked this man because he didn't force Jolene to sleep with him or anything. He simply enjoyed having her as company... she was able to come and go as she pleased and could paint and Sal was just very respectful to her. Unfortunately, Sal was murdered (something over business/money) and again Jolene has to run away. For 2 years she was making it on her own working at a catering company til she meets Brad (Michael Vartan). I knew he was bad news from the start when he was overly obsessed with Jolene. Plus, he was extremely rude to the waiter which should have been a red flag. She didn't really love him at the time he asked her to marry him, but he had fired her from her job and maybe she just felt like she had to. I have to say though, on their wedding night when he raped her, she should have left. I don't know what the heck she was thinking staying after that! After some time of being married it seems like everythings going great. She becomes pregnant and right before the baby is due Brad suddenly becomes curious about Jolene's past when before he practically forced her to keep it to herself. When asked how many people she has been with and she can't give a dirct answer, he HITS her across the face! Why she stayed with him after that I don't know, but after she has the baby things get worse. Brad can't stand Jolenes company at all and he does a background search of her. Once he finds out her past, he literally BEATS THE HECK out of her, punches kicks she's black and blue! That was the last straw but the lawyers wont take her case to get her and Brad Jr away from the husband because of her past marriage to a drug dealer! (That is why earlier I say Coco ruined her life). Seen as an unfit mother they grant the father full custody and only allow her to visit one hour, once a week supervised. So at the end we see Jolene (Now 25) walking down the street in Hollywood planning her next move... she is talking about becoming a movie star. Anyways, like I said all the actors/actresses did a great job on this movie and it was really enjoyable. It really takes you on an emotional rollercoaster and makes you wish you could help this girl along the way. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS!!

Okay, my questions:
1. When Jolene was in the mental hospital, the workers knew she wasn't crazy or anything. They knew she was there because she had no other place to go so, why were they giving her medication/pills?
2. Why did Jolene always feel like she had to say yes to all these men when they either proposed/offered her to live with them?
3. What exactally did Sal do to deserve to be murdered? I didn't full get that.
4. Why did she stay with Brad after he raped her the first night of their marriage? And after he hit her the first time?
5. Who was your favorite that Jolene was with? Mine is Mickey or Sal because they both actually respected her and were very good to her.

SPOILER ALSO!!!

As far as Sal's murder, he was in the way of other gangsters and also killed to make a message, that is that.

What I found strange and thought provoking is the his complete dissappearence during the film, even from recollections, and also that all of his sweet worded promises vanished along with him? I sort of message there I think.

I found it nothing particulary special overall but Jessica Chastain saves the film, she's brilliant in it. An excellent early film role.

My favourite out of the men was Sal, and it was funny that the gangster was actually the nicest of the bunch and she seemed happy with him, found it quite

Yeah, it's somewhat difficult to rave about it but because of Jessica Chastain, I've ended up watching it at least three times. As far as Jolene staying with bad men, that rings true in real life with victimized women staying with their tormentors sometimes. I think the bad men she stayed with was all part of the overall journey of Jolene. She always lands on her feet and I actually felt uplifted at the end for her. That's my take, anyway. Oh, and I love Jessica and would marry her if she asked me.

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Oh Sal was a gangster? Gezz I missed that somehow lol. I only watched it once but I bet if I watched again I'd catch onto more things. I just thought he was a rich business owner haha! But yeah that is true... He told her that even after he was "gone" that he would take care of her but once he was gone it was as if he had never existed! I think most of all Jolene missed Mickey the most.