"Mrs. Soffel" tells the story of a real-life 1902 Pennsylvania jailbreak that was eerily similar to the one that occurred at New York's Clinton Correctional Facility in 2015. In both cases, a female affiliated with the prison helped two male convicts escape because of romantic attachment. (The NY one was dramatized as both a 2017 TV movie "New York Prison Break" and a 2018 drama series "Escape at Dannemora.")
Although calling itself a "true story," the film takes many liberties with the truth in order to tell its trite tale of a warden's wife "Mrs. Soffel" (Diane Keaton) who escapes her "suffocating" life by running into the arms of condemned killer "Ed Biddle" (Mel Gibson). It's the usual cinematic claptrap of how adultery can be "empowering/liberating" for frustrated housewives.
The real Mrs. Soffel threw away her husband, family, and freedom to take-up with an inmate whom she knew for barely a few weeks. That's not rational behavior but this film attempts to portray it as done for "deep love between soulmates." Yeah, right.
The film also attempts to portray the Biddle brothers, Ed and "Jack" (Matthew Modine) as possible victims of injustice due to their being sentenced to death for murder on the word of an accomplice. The film doesn't mention that murder occurred during a home invasion with the Biddles and their accomplice being caught chloroforming a mother and child by the father/husband who was then shot and killed trying to stop them. That's felony-murder and the Biddles were bad guys. Also, even if they didn't swing for that murder, there is no question Ed was going to swing for killing a detective trying to apprehend him. The Biddles were clearly desperate to escape the hangman because they knew they were guilty. So, charming Ed went to work on the gullible and stupid Mrs. Soffel, and, boy, did he find an easy mark.
Trying to turn these two despicable men and ridiculous woman into sympathetic figures was absurd. I found NOTHING sympathetic about Soffel. She's a horrible person: a selfish fool and a hypocritical cheat. All that bible-thumping and she broke the commandments as soon as a handsome face showed her some attention. Imagine her being your mother? Her poor children. Of course, her husband (Edward Herrmann) is shown as a cold fish which is supposed to make what she does "understandable." No, it doesn't.
I despise films that attempt to justify immoral, illegal and horrible behavior on the part of its "protagonists" in the name of striking a blow for "freedom" or "The Sisterhood" or against "The Patriarchy" or "The System" or whatever. And this is one of those films.
Although calling itself a "true story," the film takes many liberties with the truth in order to tell its trite tale of a warden's wife "Mrs. Soffel" (Diane Keaton) who escapes her "suffocating" life by running into the arms of condemned killer "Ed Biddle" (Mel Gibson). It's the usual cinematic claptrap of how adultery can be "empowering/liberating" for frustrated housewives.
The real Mrs. Soffel threw away her husband, family, and freedom to take-up with an inmate whom she knew for barely a few weeks. That's not rational behavior but this film attempts to portray it as done for "deep love between soulmates." Yeah, right.
The film also attempts to portray the Biddle brothers, Ed and "Jack" (Matthew Modine) as possible victims of injustice due to their being sentenced to death for murder on the word of an accomplice. The film doesn't mention that murder occurred during a home invasion with the Biddles and their accomplice being caught chloroforming a mother and child by the father/husband who was then shot and killed trying to stop them. That's felony-murder and the Biddles were bad guys. Also, even if they didn't swing for that murder, there is no question Ed was going to swing for killing a detective trying to apprehend him. The Biddles were clearly desperate to escape the hangman because they knew they were guilty. So, charming Ed went to work on the gullible and stupid Mrs. Soffel, and, boy, did he find an easy mark.
Trying to turn these two despicable men and ridiculous woman into sympathetic figures was absurd. I found NOTHING sympathetic about Soffel. She's a horrible person: a selfish fool and a hypocritical cheat. All that bible-thumping and she broke the commandments as soon as a handsome face showed her some attention. Imagine her being your mother? Her poor children. Of course, her husband (Edward Herrmann) is shown as a cold fish which is supposed to make what she does "understandable." No, it doesn't.
I despise films that attempt to justify immoral, illegal and horrible behavior on the part of its "protagonists" in the name of striking a blow for "freedom" or "The Sisterhood" or against "The Patriarchy" or "The System" or whatever. And this is one of those films.