Jolene

If you like the actress, Jessica Chastain this is a have to see movie. It has a line up of other well known actors as well.

My favorite movie as a middle age adult. Poor Jolene. Her life mirrors mines at so many intersections

This was the first time i saw Jessica Chastain, and ive been in love ever since..figurtively. Apparently im not the only one that thinks so as her star has exploded. She is an awsome actress, and pleasing to look at as well. Shes one script away from the gold. Jolene is a good movie ...bit of a tear jerker in places, and a very good storey line. On a side note though, is it me or does she look alot like Bryce Dallas Howard...it also took me back when i found out her real last name is...Howard. Perhaps Ron isnt telling us everything. One big difference though...Jessica has talent

Director Dan Ireland ("Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont," co-founder of Seattle International Film Festival) uses a story by E. L. Doctorow ("Ragtime") to bring us a fifteen-year-old girl who marries a boy to get away from an abusive foster home. Problem is, she jumps from the frying pan into the fire. Over the next ten years, we encounter: * Jessica Chastain (Winner of 2008 Golden Space Needle for Best Actress, SIFF) as our eponymous heroine. This actress ages from age 15 to 25 and plays everything from a high school student to a pole dancer in a strip joint; from a Tulsa housewife to a glamorous redhead kept by a Vegas kingpin. This is a dream role for any actress and Chastain is amazing. * Zeb Newman (lots of TV) is her gawky first husband; he is the frying pan... * Dermot Mulroney ("The Wedding Date") is Uncle Phil; he is the fire (see above). * Frances Fisher (Lots of TV) works in a mental hospital (don't ask!). * Rupert Friend ("Pride and Prejudice" - 2005) is another husband, a randy musician with a tattoo parlor. * Chazz Palminteri ("Modern Family") lives in a Las Vegas penthouse. * Michael Vartan ("Rogue") is her wealthy Tulsa husband. He doesn't want to know a thing about her past....until he does.... This is an R-rated study of a resilient little gal who is the epitome of grit and determination, AND she washes up nice! This film was made in 2008, so even though I saw it at a theatrical press screening this week, it is already in on-line catalogs, and might be available on Netflix or in your local library. This review was first posted 11/5/10 and I've been following Jessica Chastain's career ever since. She's phenominal.

This movie had great potential to be phenomenal; however, it falls very short. Jessica Chastain is amazing and this is my first exposure to her in a substantive role. Where Jolene went right is, as I mentioned, is the story itself (by E.L. Doctorow) as one that has begged to be told. When the story begins, Jolene is a child, a product of the foster care system, who is virtually abandoned by her birth parents. Survival is the main theme of the film, and we follow Jolene in her journey to emotionally and physically survive. In her search for love (familial love and acceptance that humans instinctively need; certainly not romantic love or affection) and for a place to lay her head, we watch Jolene desperately maneuver from place to place, partner to partner. And we also see predators in action, as it's extremely common for sexual, emotional, and physical abusers to choose their victims based on vulnerability, ability to isolate, and ability to manipulate. We get to observe Jolene make choices based on mere survival throughout the film, watching her grow and evolve, *almost* able to trust her ability to rely on herself and her own instincts--until the predators pull her back in, in a cycle of abuse and reliance. Jolene is used and abused, but with each instance, she evolves and survives--as we all do. And incredibly enough, through the most horrifying circumstances, Chastain never tells Jolene's story as a victim. While the story itself is extremely brilliant and a raw insight in how domestic violence often starts, the transition from paper to screen seems to be a rocky transition: There are far too many cliches in this movie. I don't know where it's written that any movie based in the South or that has Southerns in it must be a caricature with over-the-top melodrama. Chastain holds her own, but most of the rest of the cast does not, unfortunately. The character Coco Leget (Rupert Friend), for instance, is an English actor who must have learned to mock a New Orleanean accent from Hee Haw. The acting is "sub-par"-ingly distracting. Again, Chastain shines, but the acting takes away from the heart of the story. Overall, it's definitely worth a watch, if not for the commanding presence of Jessica Chastain and the survivor's story.

This is a great film to show to young girls and how trauma impact them and how one might mask the pain in ways of acting out, when really healing oneself can empower oneself. View it before showing it to a teen, as there are some sensitive scenes.

I love this movie. When I first saw this movie, I knew that Jessica Chastain was going to be a star. Not only that, I knew that she would win an Oscar someday. Fast forward to 2013 and her on the red carpet, nominated for "Zero Dark Thirty". She will win someday because she knows something that most actress never find out. She is fearless. In the span of the length of "Jolene", she grabbed every taboo that actresses face by the throat and strangled the bejesus out of it. I don't really know why "Jolene - The Director's Cut" was released, but it isn't as good. There are many many cuts, most of them sexual and there are many scenes that are different. Ultimately though, "Jolene" is about the power of a woman and the strength of a woman, sexuality and all. So cutting these scenes made the movie less of what it originally was. Bottom line, "the director's cut" is too much of a cut and the original is a better film. Jessica Chastain tackles this character of "Jolene" and showed what probably was an Oscar-worthy performance before anybody knew who she was. The movie is about innocence and sex. No matter how much we want to deny it, it is what drives us, many times in the wrong direction. For some, it drives us in the wrong direction over and over. It is the nature of the beast and what we see from Jolene is the development of her inner-strength and maturity after a lifetime of taking the harsh road. You want to see an actress bury herself in a role, check out the ORIGINAL CUT of "Jolene". Jessica Chastain went from a virtual unknown to an Oscar nominee and you can see why in this 120 minute movie from 2008.

This is film is about life and hurdles to concur. The girl Jolene (Jessica Chastain ) passes through a lot of misshape and hurdles, growing up through a pitiful marriage to retard country boy with a sex maniac uncle through drugs and weirdo guy already married. In whole this is a tough life for Jolene that does not lose her courage and will always go further to a better life ,not like her own without the memory nor the closeness to a mother and father an orphan out of nowhere.. Jolene changes thousand faces all beautiful and heart touching. The acting of Jessica is amazing out of this world ,not only she is amazingly beautiful her acting is superb. In short words :Jessica plays her part very real natural all the rest is the background.