MarieGabrielle This film is excellent. Roxanne Hart does an excellent job portraying Ms. Scripps, who was actually murdered by her husband in the mid 90's.Holly Marie Combs and Sarah Chalke portray Alex and Annie Morrel, Anne's daughters. The Scripps family-(Just think of publishing, NY and their estate in Bronxville, NY) is an old money establishment, and James Wilder portrays Scott Douglas, Anne's new suitor, who eventually marries the unsuspecting Scripps.Apparently, she did not realize the extent of his capacity for abuse and violence. Perhaps it started as verbal abuse. Douglas seems to resent Anne's life of privilege, though she is a loving mother and wife. He embarrasses her in front of friends, degrades her, and spends his days drinking, while living in her mansion.The performances in this film are very good, particularly Roxanne Hart, who is simply a wealthy,lonely woman, marries a younger man, and becomes the victim. She is sympathetic yet believable. Holly Marie Combs is also excellent, as the daughter who fights back, and sees the predicament her mother is in.This is a decent film which realistically portrays the covert world of spousal abuse. Watch it and you will be interested in learning the true story.

Will Anne had every chance in the world to leave this bum. He smashed her face in several times; humiliated her in front of her family and friends; and fell for this jerk's constant begging and crying that he would change.No offense but this would not have been tolerated by a African American woman. She would have killed this dope after all of these events. If she really loved the little girl Tori, she would have put her in a better environment with the older daughters on a permanent basis and never went back to this animal.The movie was sad and well played. I admired the daughter Alex's toughness. Her sister was weak like the mom and let men punch her around too. Remember the scene when the police came and the weak sister and mom let the police leave without arresting the guy. No way they should have let that happen. However, this is a true indication of how abused women (and men in some cases) never make the tough decision to get out before someone gets killed. If they punch you once they are likely to do it again. Most do not change. I hope this is the lesson abused people took from this film. Nice movie but sad.

Quirkystarburns I was doing research on famous domestic abuse cases and came across this movie. Aside from being slightly dramatized in true Hollywood fashion I thought it did a great job portraying the abuse from several points of view. It was honest and candid in a way that most abuse movies aren't. Anne's sense of inability to leave her abusive relationship was depicted quite well, and her daughter's sense of futility to help her was heartbreaking and very well done. The situation was portrayed very realistically and I was rather amazed at the way the actors were able to truly tap into those intense emotions. Holly Marie Combs in particular was just spectacular.This movie was great. It's definitely up in the caliber of "The Burning Bed."

VENEZIADOGE This is a USA Original Pictures movie based upon the murder of the Scripps heiress by her abusive controlling husband. The daughters of the mother play a large role in the movie and narrate it at times. It follows a typical and predictable progression, partly based upon its semi-factually based premise. The movie is definitely watchable, but is obviously a made-for-TV movie and is reminiscent of previous USA Original movies.The theme of the intruding con-man who works his way in until its too late to remove him appears here. Unlike the many other similar movies with this plot, this one is unique since it does have some basis in reality.