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Marion Bridge was one of 14 films nominated for the Tiger Awards of the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2003 and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see this film win. I have deep respect for the actresses who play the three sisters Agnes, Theresa and Louise, especially for Molly Parker (Agnes aka Angie). Mother is dying in the remote village in Nova Scotia where the sisters spent their youth. Agnes, who has an alcohol problem (inherited from her mother, as it seems), returns from Toronto just to find nothing has really changed. There is the usual bickering with her sisters, the woman next door is as nosy as ever and the people getting drunk in the local bar seem to have never left the building. A notion of suspense is triggered as Agnes repeatedly parks the family car in front of a souvenir shop. There she sits and watches the young girl Joanie who lives there. As the drama slowly develops questions are answered and new questions launched, even after the plot is unveiled. I won't give it away here, but I can assure it is quite shocking. The three sisters are very well cast as is their mother. The father who lives with another woman is an old sod who doesn't seem to remember (or care) what has happened in the past. Marion Bridge ends with an optimistic scene which is as moving as the film as a whole. A noteworthy achievement by young director Wiebke von Carolsfeld.

The story of this Coen Brothers film resembles that of 'Fargo': man in need of cash schemes plot; plot fails; man ends up being arrested. In this case he is executed in the electric chair. That serves him right, for people died thanks to his wrong doing. But is he a criminal? By definition, yes. Though to the viewer he is more like a decent civilian who was tempted to take the wrong path and can't go back. Even when he tells the truth -- while his wife is serving in jail for the murder he more or less accidentally committed -- he is not believed by the classy lawyer he has hired. His wife hangs herself, so the case is dismissed. After he is linked to another death, he lands in jail and in afore mentioned chair. He is to die for something he is not guilty of, but accepts the verdict to pay his debts. The film is in black and white which adds to the 'film noir'-character. Note that 'The man who wasn't there' is not the first Coen Brothers film in which hair or hair treatment plays a major role. In 'O Brother, where art thou' there is this crook who is more concerned about his hair than about his general well being (and that of his confrères). Here the man is a barber in a small town barber shop. Before the execution one of his legs is shaved, a scene that in a macabre way mirrors the bath tub scene in which as a loving husband he shaves his wife's legs. A typical Coen Brothers film with great playing by Billy Bob Thornton. And what a smoker he is! Do the Coen Brothers know the 'sadistic universe' of Dutch literary writer Willem Frederik Hermans? Same as in their films, in his books anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. It is Murphy's Law, as well as Coen's and Hermans'. It would be great to see a Coen Brothers adaption of Hermans' 1966 novel 'Never sleep again'.