| Marlene | |
| Director: | Wendy Hill-Tout |
| Producer: | Wendy Hill-Tout |
| Starring: | Kristin Booth Greg Bryk |
| Music: | Janal Bechthold |
| Cinematography: | Charles Hamilton |
| Editing: | Bridget Durnford |
| Studio: | Voice Pictures |
| Runtime: | 110 minutes |
| Country: | Canada |
| Language: | English |
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]
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.
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]
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]