Film review for the Marlee Matlin doc, ' Marleen Matlin: I'm Not Alone Anymore".
Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin (for the 1986 Randa Haines film 'Children of A Lesser God') proves to be a controlled force of nature in the measured, empathetic, and intimate (but not titillating) documentary 'Marlee Matlin: I'm Not Alone Anymore' by newcomer director (also actress and writer) Shoshannah Stern, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
A celebration of American Sign Language, the film showcases a very casual conversation between two Deaf people, the director, and her documentary subject, in the latter's place and sofa (Stern being visible throughout the film). The doc's starting point is, of course, early VHS footage of Marlee Matlin's Oscar-winning film and the 1987 ceremony -the first Deaf person awarded the coveted prize. And the only one until her co-star in the Oscar-awarded 'CODA', Troy Kotsur (also interviewed in the film) got his own award for Best Supporting Actor in 2022.
Marlee Matlin is an easygoing and vibrant person to like, and Stern gives her the most spotlight (sometimes at the expense of other interviewees). Matlin narrates both her unexpected catapult to success and her romantic partnership with William Hurt, as well as her fall from grace immediately afterward and her physical and substance abuse issues. The film puts its fingers on the intrinsic solitude Deaf people experience in all aspects of their lives: family (who sometimes expect them to speak), media representation (the number of roles offered for Deaf people is nowhere near the range of non-Deaf roles, and the studios still attempt to have their way on casting non-Deaf actors for Deaf roles), and personal lives (Matlin had the sort of relationship with William Hurt her character in 'Children of the Lesser God' had with the William Hurt character).
Yet what emerges on the sidelines of the film is the even more interesting observation that sometimes Deaf people -even prominent advocates for community rights, as Marlee Matlin has become- lack the concepts (and 'words') to define their experience. Young age and limited opportunities saddle us all; however, Deaf people still need to decipher an oral world that is not theirs. It is heart-wrenching to watch Matlin say that she would finally put the right concept of 'domestic abuse' into her lived experience, which she strongly felt but could not pinpoint -and, unlike non-deaf people, had limited societal opportunities to explore as a concept.
That said, the solid and secure steps she took early in her career to secure closed captions for all US-produced films and shows were significant steps that needed the backing of an Academy Award-winning star. A short time is spent on her early years as an Illinois kid, with the mother-daughter relationship being honest but limited. Stern's film also records the backlash Matlin received in her Academy Award 1987 appearance when she decided to speak (without sign language) the names of the Academy Award-nominated actors; the Deaf community accused her of false assimilation attempts (Deaf don't need to succumb to oralism to become accepted). In retrospect, Matlin becomes candid about what happens if a celebrity is suddenly put into the spotlight -unprepared and isolated.
Matlin has had a distinctive career in film and TV (including 4 EMMY nominations and appearances in Aaron Sorkin's 'West Wing'), now including a directorial premiere in Fox's 2023 'Accused', in which she directed one episode -part of the process also featured in Stern's doc. She looks calm after her 2009 autobiography "I'll Scream Later", when she first exposed the details of physical abuse suffered (long before the #MeToo movement). The film does justice to her work and trajectory, serving as an intelligent reminder that there is not a single 'deafness' condition for celebrities or anyone else. Matlin is a multi-faceted character (actress, activist, creative person), and her portrayal should deal with all those aspects in a measured and justified way. 'Marlee Matlin: I'm Not Alone Anymore' does this competently and with calm passion.
Vassilis Kroustallis