ADRIENNE

US, 2021, 98 minutes, Colour.

Directed by Andy Ostroy.

The Adrienne of this title is the American actress, writer and director, Adrienne Shelley. She had some prominence in the 1990s and into the to 2000s, especially in central roles in films by the independent director, Hal Hartley. She also wrote and directed the dramatic success, Waitress, as well as acting in the film. She had some prominence in the mid-2010s with Waitress becoming a Broadway musical and a box office hit.

This is a film for film buffs. But, it is also the story of a tragedy. And there are some strong human elements in the story and its telling.

This film is a tribute to Adrienne Shelley by her husband, producer, Andy Ostroy. It is his tribute to his wife. And, it is also his opportunity to offer this memory and memorial to Adrienne for his daughter, Sophie.

Film buffs will know the sad end to Adrienne Shelley’s life. For others it may come as something of a shock. She went to work in her office, her body was found and the judgement was made of suicide. However, it quickly emerged that she had been murdered. The murderer was a 19-year-old migrant from Ecuador who was trying to rob her, attacked her, set up the body as if it were a suicide. He was caught, tried, sentenced to a long prison term.

Andy Ostroy offers a cinema portrait of his wife. There is a great deal of home movie footage, footage of television interviews with her, quite some discussions about her writing, the performances, her intentions for the future. But, there are many sequences of her with her five-year-old child, Sophie. (In fact, Sophie appears as the baby in the film, Waitress.) There are glimpses of the film itself, interviews with the star, Keri Russell, as well as interviews with friends and admirers like Paul Rudd. There are also glimpses of the film she starred in.

But, there are many sequences between father and daughter, going back to the time of Adrienne’s death, his attempts to communicate this sad reality to his daughter, sketches, storytelling. But, at the time of the film, Andy Ostroy talks with a number of his friends who are able to remember the details of what happened, when the news struck, and his reaction, their help, the the reaction to these suicide decision, urging the police to further investigation, the arrest of the killer.

A special feature of this film is that Andy Ostroy has decided that he wants to meet the killer, to interview him in prison. The killer is willing and, apprehensively, Andy Ostroy goes to visit. He explains his love for his wife to the prisoner, vents some anger and dismay, the prisoner, quiet and subdued, looking sad, remembers the event, what happened, his regrets.

And so, the film serves as a tribute and memorial – and, for Andy Ostroy and Sophie, some kind of closure.