| Bastard Out of Carolina | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover for Bastard Out of Carolina |
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| Directed by | Anjelica Huston |
| Produced by | Amanda DiGiulio Gary Hoffman (executive producer) |
| Written by | Anne Meredith (teleplay) Dorothy Allison (book) |
| Starring | Jennifer Jason Leigh Jena Malone |
| Music by | Van Dyke Parks |
| Cinematography | Anthony B. Richmond |
| Editing by | Éva Gárdos |
| Distributed by | Out of Carolina Productions |
| Release date(s) | 15 December, 1996 |
| Running time | 97 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Bastard Out of Carolina is a 1996 film made by Showtime Networks, directed by Anjelica Huston. It is based on a novel by Dorothy Allison and adapted for the screen by Anne Meredith. Jena Malone stars as a poor, physically abused and sexually molested girl. In 1997, the theatrical and video releases of the film were banned by Canada's Maritime Film Classification Board. The video was eventually granted release upon appeal. It won the Emmy Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries or a Special (Linda Lowy) and was nominated Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Special (Anjelica Huston), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special (Glenne Headly), and Outstanding Made for Television Movie (Amanda DiGiulio, Gary Hoffman).
Plot
Ruth Anne, nicknamed "Bone", is a young girl growing up in Greenville, South Carolina. Born out of wedlock to fifteen-year-old Anney, Bone lives with her mother and their extended family in a poor part of town. Anney loves Bone, but is still very much a child herself, tired out from working and needy for attention and adoration. After her kind, hardworking first husband, the father of Bone's half-sister, is killed in an automobile accident, Anney remarries a man named Glen. Glen seems attentive until Anney's and Glen's baby dies at birth. Frustrated by the loss of his eagerly-anticipated son, Anney's inability to have more children, and his own inability to manage his temper and maintain steady employment, Glen begins to physically and sexually abuse Bone. Anney is saddened by her new husband's behavior towards her child, but does not leave him. One day, Bone's aunt discovers lashes on her legs and alerts the girl's uncles, who beat Glen unconscious. Bone goes to live with her aunts, and eventually tells her mother that Anney is allowed to love Glen, but that Bone will never come home to him again. Eventually, Glen comes around while the aunts are out, telling Bone that Anney refuses to come home without her, and trying to force her to come back. When she fights him, he punches her and then rapes her. Anney discovers them and breaks a bottle over Glen's head, but returns to him anyway. Meanwhile, the county courthouse is burned, enabling Anney at last to get a copy of Bone's birth certificate without the shameful designation "ILLEGITIMATE" stamped on it.
Cast
- Jennifer Jason Leigh ... Anney Boatwright
- Ron Eldard ... Glen Waddell
- Glenne Headly ... Aunt Ruth
- Lyle Lovett ... Wade
- Jena Malone ... Ruth Anne 'Bone' Boatwright
- Dermot Mulroney ... Lyle Parsons
- Christina Ricci ... Dee Dee
- Michael Rooker ... Uncle Earle
- Diana Scarwid ... Aunt Raylene
- Susan Traylor ... Alma
- Grace Zabriskie ... Granny
