A horrible situation develops in a remote Irish island in which parents arriving home, after a night out, find the babysitter, Dorothy attacking their infant. They are completely taken aback thinking how could they have entrusted their baby to such a disturbed young woman. The setting is a small community in which the role of the local church, led by its stern pastor, dominates all what is going on in the small town.
The mainland decides the case merits a look by a qualified psychiatrist to evaluate the situation. Jane Van Doop is sent to work with Dorothy. As Jane gets out of the ferry that took her to the island, she must drive to her destination, but along the way, she suffers an accident trying to avoid two cars, an orange one and a blue one, plunging into the frigid waters of a lake. Jane is able to survive.
It becomes clear Jane is not welcomed into the small community. She is regarded as an interloper. Working with Dorothy is not exactly easy for Jane, who finds Dorothy unresponsive. That situation changes when suddenly Dorothy changes into a small child, Mimi. Jane's diagnosis takes into consideration is a case of multiple personalities. She will find three others living within Dorothy, but getting rid of them proves a bigger challenge than Jane thought possible.
Jane goes to Colin Garrivan, who is the representative of the police in the community, for help. He warns Jane of the dangers ahead. The men that gather in the small inn are not too pleased to see Jane poking her nose into what they feel is not her business. Jane perseveres in solving the web inside Dorothy's mind, but it is a mixed blessing because of the anger she raises among the citizens as the truth behind what is troubling Dorothy all along.
Agnes Merlet is a competent director who saw possibilities in the story she and Juliette Sales created. In a lot of ways, this tale reminded this viewer of Nunnally Johnson's 1957 film "The Three Faces of Eve", in which a young woman suffers the same fate that caused little Dorothy to become the little monster she became. In making Dorothy resemble the evil Rhoda Penmark the central character of Mervyn LeRoy's "The Bad Seed", Ms. Merlet was perhaps paying tribute to two classics of the genre, although "Three Faces of Eve" was more of a clinical study of a woman possessed by personalities which were caused directly the same way in both stories.
"Dorothy" is also a case study of a small town hiding a dark secret. The locals are all guilty of concealing a heinous crime that happened years before. The whole community, including Pastor Ross, figured what happened within such religious people was best to keep it a secret. Ms. Merlet achieved a coup with the casting of the two main roles in the film. Jenn Morris, making her screen debut made a sensational case for the disturbed Dorothy, a young woman that experienced a trauma in her childhood. Carice Van Houten, the Dutch screen and stage actress does amazing work in the film. The supporting players also contributed to the ensemble feeling one gets watching the film.
Not having seen her latest effort, "Hideaways" one can only welcome Ms. Merlet's next film, wishing her successes in future ventures.
The mainland decides the case merits a look by a qualified psychiatrist to evaluate the situation. Jane Van Doop is sent to work with Dorothy. As Jane gets out of the ferry that took her to the island, she must drive to her destination, but along the way, she suffers an accident trying to avoid two cars, an orange one and a blue one, plunging into the frigid waters of a lake. Jane is able to survive.
It becomes clear Jane is not welcomed into the small community. She is regarded as an interloper. Working with Dorothy is not exactly easy for Jane, who finds Dorothy unresponsive. That situation changes when suddenly Dorothy changes into a small child, Mimi. Jane's diagnosis takes into consideration is a case of multiple personalities. She will find three others living within Dorothy, but getting rid of them proves a bigger challenge than Jane thought possible.
Jane goes to Colin Garrivan, who is the representative of the police in the community, for help. He warns Jane of the dangers ahead. The men that gather in the small inn are not too pleased to see Jane poking her nose into what they feel is not her business. Jane perseveres in solving the web inside Dorothy's mind, but it is a mixed blessing because of the anger she raises among the citizens as the truth behind what is troubling Dorothy all along.
Agnes Merlet is a competent director who saw possibilities in the story she and Juliette Sales created. In a lot of ways, this tale reminded this viewer of Nunnally Johnson's 1957 film "The Three Faces of Eve", in which a young woman suffers the same fate that caused little Dorothy to become the little monster she became. In making Dorothy resemble the evil Rhoda Penmark the central character of Mervyn LeRoy's "The Bad Seed", Ms. Merlet was perhaps paying tribute to two classics of the genre, although "Three Faces of Eve" was more of a clinical study of a woman possessed by personalities which were caused directly the same way in both stories.
"Dorothy" is also a case study of a small town hiding a dark secret. The locals are all guilty of concealing a heinous crime that happened years before. The whole community, including Pastor Ross, figured what happened within such religious people was best to keep it a secret. Ms. Merlet achieved a coup with the casting of the two main roles in the film. Jenn Morris, making her screen debut made a sensational case for the disturbed Dorothy, a young woman that experienced a trauma in her childhood. Carice Van Houten, the Dutch screen and stage actress does amazing work in the film. The supporting players also contributed to the ensemble feeling one gets watching the film.
Not having seen her latest effort, "Hideaways" one can only welcome Ms. Merlet's next film, wishing her successes in future ventures.