One of the most often filmed themes is of a family in crisis. What is unique about the film Marion Bridge is the manner in which it is dealt with by the director, Wiebke von Carolsfeld and the amazing cast. The film centers around 3 sisters, Agnes, played by Molly Parker, Theresa, played by Rebecca Jenkins, and Louise played by Stacy Smith. The other film character is Joanie, played by Ellen Page, a teenager working in a gift shop in town. Agnes, the wild, free spirt, returns home from Toronto when her mother, Rose (Marguerite McNeil), is hospitalized. Agnes, notorious for her history of swooping in, causing chaos, and then leaving the remaining family to sort through the uprising, is the central character in this film.
The most notable aspect of this film is not what is known, but what is revealed as time goes on, in a very subtle manner. Obsession haunts the lives of each of the characters. The eldest sister, Theresa is obsessed with her husband who has left her for another woman. Louise, the middle sister who has lesbian tendencies, is obsessed with television. Agnes is mired in the world of physical addiction, and the young girl at the gift shop.
The chemistry between each of the characters is well acted and as the long held secrets are creatively revealed, the audience is made painfully aware of the magnitude of the events that have shaped the lives of these women. The colors in the film, mostly pastel shades of pink and green lend to the atmosphere of the lack of clarity in the lives of the sisters. While each of them are working towards a healing process in their own lives, that very act is bringing them together albeit with trepidation and moments of humor.
After the passing of their mother, they embark on the ultimate journey to confront their father. Wiebke's most powerful moment of the film is one with little dialogue. Nothing needed to be said other than the exchange of looks between a daughter who was molested and the father responsible for it.
While this film was engaging in the sense that it made me think, made me figure out what had transpired in the lives of these women to bring them to the place they were at, there were times when it became too drawn out. That being said, I would still recommend seeing it because it conveyed a total image of the starkness of emotions, the raw power of negative life experiences on the lives of these women, and the creative ability of a director to work within a limited scope and yet hit the nail on the head in her method of exemplifing the reality of life.