I don't think I'm giving away any major plot twists by stating that you can figure out who the lesbian character is in Marion Bridge in the first two minutes of the film: the one with the bad hair. I don't mean that subjectively (although it is a bad haircut)--before Louise is even introduced, one of her sisters tells the other not to say anything about Louise's hair since "she cut it herself."

Bad hair aside, Louise's emerging lesbianism is a small but well-handled theme in Marion Bridge, an extremely powerful film about the relationship between three sisters as they struggle to deal with the ghosts of the past. Directed by Wiebke von Carolsfeld and written by Daniel MacIvor, the story is set in the small town of Marion Bridge, Nova Scotia, and stars Molly Parker as Agnes, Rebecca Jenkins as Theresa, and Stacy Smith as Louise.

Marion Bridge begins just as Agnes, the black sheep of the family who fled to the big city of Toronto many years ago, returns home to a dying mother and two resentful and suspicious sisters. We find out soon enough that Theresa and Louise have good reason to be wary of Agnes, who has been a long-time drug addict and alcoholic, but it also becomes clear that Theresa and Louise are reacting to the events of the past in their own dysfunctional ways: Theresa through her co-dependent relationship with her ex-husband, and Louise through her detached retreat from the world (and bad hair).

As the days and weeks go by, long-buried resentments--particularly between the two oldest, Agnes and Theresa--erupt into confrontations as the women are finally forced to deal with the past in order to heal their relationship. As the story progresses, you can literally see the razor-thin line between despair and hope that each woman is walking as she struggles to make sense of the horrors of their childhood.

Consistent with the film's understated approach in general, the actual events of the past are only referenced a few times in the movie--in fact, if you blink at the wrong time you're likely to miss what happened altogether. In this way the film mimics the sisters' dynamic: although the past is almost never discussed between them, it underlies almost everything they do even fifteen years later.

The central conflict is really between the two oldest sisters, but the storyline dealing with Louise's sexuality is a compelling and complementary subplot. Despite all the tension between the sisters, sharp-eyed Agnes quickly discerns Louise's attraction to a neighbor woman, Dorrie, and begins to subtly encourage it. In fact, it quickly becomes clear that Agnes is more aware of Louise's lesbianism than Louise is, and her attempts to let Louise know that she is supportive of Louise's relationship with Dorrie are both moving and comical.

Agnes and Louise do have a conversation near the end of the film about it in which Agnes tries to be as direct as possible about her support, but it's a heavily coded conversation about Louise "going after what she wants" and the result is a comical misunderstanding which is revealed at the end of the film.

Stacy Smith does an excellent job of portraying Louise's gradually increasing self-awareness combined with her obvious discomfort with emotional or physical intimacy. Rebecca Jenkins as her disapproving sister Theresa softens and complicates a role that could have otherwise easily turned into the stereotype of the nagging older sister.

But it is Molly Parker as Agnes who truly shines in this film. Although her character is clearly suffering a great deal, the moments when Agnes rises above her own pain are truly breathtaking--I've never seen an actress actually glow as she does in a few scenes. And for a film that is generally very serious in tone, Parker brings occasional moments of levity and warmth that add a delightful layer of complexity to the film. But perhaps most remarkable is Parker's ability to keep Agnes from being just another victim drowning her sorrows in drinking and drugs--she insists on portraying Agnes as a woman who has moments of strength and honesty as well as powerlessness and denial.

The minimalist production quality does reflect the limited budget that is typical of independent films, but Marion Bridge hardly suffers from this contraint--in fact, this film is an illustration of the potential of independent films to rival big-budget studio films despite the lack of splashy background vistas and expensive sets. Marion Bridge has won several film festival awards in the last year, including Best First Feature at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival; the film's success was perhaps inevitable given that the film is based on an award-winning play and the three main actresses (who are fairly well-known in Canada if not in the U.S.) have themselves won several acting awards.

The powerful performances and well-written dialogue of Marion Bridge quickly make you forget anything but the alternately passionate and restrained dance between these sisters--and when the movie is over, you are likely to find yourself longing for more.

Note: For a limited time, you can get FREE Run of Engagement passes for screenings in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and L.A.; just go here and then print out the ticket (note: requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to print ticket).

The film will be available in the U.S. on DVD beginning in April 2003 only from The Film Movement at $29.95 for non-members and $19.95 for members (membership requires a monthly subscription fee of $19.95 and includes an independent film every month as well as other benefits).

The Film Movement is an innovative new film distribution company that acquires Award Winning New Releases of Independent Films from the world's top festivals and then releases them simultaneously to Members on DVD through a subscription service AND theatrically in leading Independent Cinemas in major US cities. For more information about joining, visit our website at filmmovement.com.