Jolene

Jessica Chastain stars in filmmaker Dan Ireland's Jolene, based on a short story by E.L. Doctorow about a young woman's 10-year odyssey in search of love and adventure. The product of abusive foster homes, the 15-year-old first weds Micky (Zeb Newman), a boyish truck driver, after which the pair move in with his Aunt Kay (Theresa Russell) and Uncle Phil (Dermot Mulroney), who finds the redhead quite appealing. Jolene falls into an affair with Phil, but when Kay catches them in the act, Jolene ends up in a home for troubled girls, where she gains the favor of psychiatric nurse Cindy (Frances Fisher). A pattern emerges: male or female, everyone finds Jolene irresistible. Hitchhiking and turning tricks, Jolene travels from South Carolina to Arizona, Las Vegas, and Tulsa, finding second and third husbands along the way, before heading for Hollywood. Watching Jolene's odyssey is often frustrating, since it's hard to tell what she wants: Jolene simply aligns herself with whoever desires her most, leaving open the question of whether she's an amoral opportunist or simply a fantasy figure. Optional. (K. Fennessy)