Michele StuevenThe Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore documentary takes a deep and personal dive into the life and career of the trailblazing Deaf actress who took on Hollywood and was the youngest and first Deaf woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Children of a Lesser God.
Through a treasure trove of home movies and archival footage, first-time director and Deaf actress Shoshannah Stern pieces together a rich and thorough portrait of Matlin’s life from childhood and her complex family dynamic to her high and low points in Hollywood. Stern, a fixture throughout the film, uses her primary language of American Sign Language to tell the story the way she experiences the world through sign language, visuals, graphics, and closed captions.
While the documentary touches mostly on all the revelations from Matlin’s 2009 memoir, I’ll Scream Later, including her abusive relationship with actor William Hurt and drug issues, there are sit-downs with director Aaron Sorkin, who worked with her in The West Wing TV series, and longtime close friend Henry Winkler. Matlin’s childhood friend and family members candidly detail the personal dynamics of growing up Deaf in Illinois.
Marlee Matlin and Henry Winkler (Courtesy Kino Lorber)
“My relationship with my mother was difficult, but I loved her nonetheless,” Matlin told LA Weekly in a Zoom call via her longtime interpreter Jack Jason. “ But I recognized that she had her own struggles with trying to make my life easier. Her perspective was that I would have the best education and friends. She wanted the best for me. She was the one who introduced me to acting. But she had struggles as a child. She had a very bad childhood; her father left her family when she was nine, and watched her brother and sister soar, finish school, get degrees, have amazing jobs, and she did not. She carried that grief until she passed.
“When my parents found out that I became deaf at 18 months, there was another thing for her to grieve over in her life, and she didn’t know how to handle it,” says the new grandmother and mom of four. “ My dad also had a bad childhood, and they were both determined not to repeat it. So when I became deaf, which was a shock to them, they had to learn how to raise me. Back then, there weren’t many resources or enough information like we have today. Everyone back then did the same thing for their Deaf kids.
“I said to myself that when I became a mother, I would allow my daughter or son to BE,” she says. “My parents gave me independence, and I knew that I would do that for my children, and that we would have communication and be transparent about it. That was crucial for me.”
Marlee Matlin revisits her Illinois neighborhood (Courtesy Kino Lorber)
Matlin’s co-stars in CODA, which was composed of Deaf actors and won three Academy Awards in 2022, including Best Picture, are also featured in the documentary. And while that was a glorious Oscar moment for the Deaf community, and despite what seems to be a long, successful career for Matlin, she hasn’t had a job since.
“It’s called perseverance,” says the legendary actress. “Yes, I’m still working in a way that means that people recognize me, acknowledge me, and I’m still around. Does that mean I get work like other people who can hear? No. My name might get floated around to certain people in conversations in the industry, but am I getting the work that I feel I deserve, the same as other actors? No. It was great after 35 years, when CODA swept the Academy Awards to finally come back, but what happened in between? Radio silence. Does that mean I have to wait another 35 years?”
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore will open at the Landmark Nuart and Laemmle Noho, Los Angeles, starting Friday, June 27, with plans to expand nationally