MauritiusToday.com - Shopping Mall - Our Mother's Murder

Ms. Douglas, played with great charm and sensitivity by Roxanne Hart, was the divorced mother of two college age daughters, Alexandra and Anne, when she met Scot Douglas, a self-employed house painter. Divorced after a marriage of eighteen years, Anne was interested in having a relationship, as she was lonely. So, when she met Scot, her daughters were initially happy for her. Shortly after they met him, however, their opinion changed.

Scot Douglas was nearly ten years their mother's junior. He, unfortunately, was also an insecure man with a violent temper and a drinking problem that would trigger bouts of violence. Despite warnings from her daughters, Anne married Scot. Theirs would prove to be a rocky marriage, marked by bouts of domestic violence.

There was also hostility between Anne's daughters and Scott, who would eventually force Alexandra, placed with steely eyed toughness by Holly Marie Combs, to move out of the family home. The more malleable daughter, Anne, played with trusting complacency by Sarah Chalke, remained at home, keeping a quietly watchful eye on their mother, for fear that Scot would hurt her. Out of Scot and Anne's union, however, a daughter, Victoria, was born. She would be the cudgel that Scot would wield whenever Anne would think of leaving him, promising that she would never see their daughter again if she were to leave him.

Notwithstanding her wealth, Anne would lead a life typical of many battered women, as it would follow a familiar cycle of violence. Despite the entreaties of her daughters, Anne and Alexandra, she did not get a court order excluding Scot from the family home. His presence in the family home would culminate in an act of violence sometime late New Years Eve 1993 or very early New Years Day 1994. It would be an act that would leave Anne Scripps Douglas unconscious on her bed, bleeding from a head wound that would soon prove to be mortal.

This is an atypical film about a battered woman in that the woman is well-educated, has many resources, and a familial support system. Still, it is the same sad story. It just proves what experts have posited all along: that domestic violence crosses all socio-economic boundaries and no one, despite the trappings of privilege, is immune to its reach. It is a well-acted film with excellent production values. It is, however, just another film about a battered woman, only in this one the victim happens to be wealthy. Otherwise her story is just like those of her less well-heeled sisters in pain. Still, it is a film that is worth a rental, as it is better than most other films in this genre.