SXSW 2025: ‘Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore’ Review

Positive representation in film and television has been an uphill battle, even by today’s standards, where more diverse casts and crew members can still face absurd roadblocks to being treated equally. Moments that bring the issue to light tend to come in two categories: financial success or awards recognition. Both are often immediately countered with conversations surrounding anomalies and momentary pats on the back by an industry that too frequently fails to continue a potential sea of change. Marlee Matlin won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 1987 for her performance in Randa Haines’s Children of a Lesser God. Matlin became the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award and with it came a signal that more roles might open up for the Deaf community. However, Shoshannah Stern’s directorial debut, Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, demonstrates that the sea of change doesn’t always happen as planned. Through an open dialogue between Matlin and Stern, a picture forms of progress built on visibility and understanding how notoriety can bring about change on-screen and behind the scenes.

While audiences nowadays might only know Matlin from Sian Heder’s Oscar-winning film, CODA, Stern’s documentary provides a relatively comprehensive breakdown of what made Matlin’s performance in Children of a Lesser God so impactful and how that fame becomes a fragile moment. Unsurprisingly, given the stark conversations had throughout the film about Matlin’s past relationships and substance abuse issues, Stern’s film is more concerned with giving voice to Matlin than necessarily trying to interrogate the other side of the conversation. Unlike many films centred around celebrating a single person’s life, Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore presents far more nuance in its conversations with Matlin about past mistakes and errors in judgment, as well as how she perceives her legacy. It’s not very often that the subject of a documentary seems this open to discussing the scars of their past life, but this is one of the rare instances of these documentaries where it does feel like conversations are confronted with transparency and honesty.

Stern splices throughout the film accompanying interviews with some of Matlin’s closest friends and past collaborators, including her interpreter Jack Jason, directors Sian Heder and Randa Haines, and Henry Winkler. A mix of archive footage and photographs helps illuminate some of the more tumultuous times in Matlin’s life while she struggles to bounce back from a violent relationship with actor William Hurt and a sudden thrust into the spotlight. Those who have read Matlin’s 2009 memoir, I’ll Scream Later, will find a lot of familiar territory retreaded here. However, to hear it from Matlin herself as opposed to the written word provides a more personal touch to the film and Stern’s approach to conveying Matlin’s life, warts and all, is bolstered by the decision to be more candid and refuse to omit Matlin from topics about her own life.

This plays to what makes Matlin such an endearing figure and a positive role model for what representation looks like, even when the person is not immediately prepared for the responsibility. After her achievement at the Academy Awards, the spotlight on Matlin as an advocate for the Deaf community within Hollywood brought expectations that, left alone to figure out, can be challenging to navigate. Her decision to speak and not use sign language at the following Academy Awards as a presenter created a pushback from the community she was representing, but Matlin herself is now conscious of how her actions can be portrayed and has lived a long life behind the scenes as an activist and advocate for hearing-impaired representation in the arts. One of the most fascinating tidbits in the documentary is Matlin’s role in bringing closed captioning to television sets. The film also employs closed captioning throughout and ensures that if a subject communicates in American Sign Language, that form of communication is reciprocated.

Small touches like the aforementioned directorial decisions create a sympathetic portrait of a legendary actress whose career on-screen may not be as prolific as her peers at the time but has enjoyed healthy longevity supported by an impact behind the camera. A documentary celebrating the life of a celebrity can often devolve into vanity and avoid delving too deep into the faults that make us all human. Stern’s documentary avoids this by capturing a subject who is fully aware of her missteps and taking those moments as lessons that shaped the rest of her life. Matlin’s contributions to cinema and the hearing-impaired community exemplify an individual's power when their platform is understood and leveraged effectively. Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore serves as a reminder of the blood, sweat, and tears that go into making significant changes to an industry that is steadfast in its ways—and how, unfortunately, the road to progress is often a trial of endurance.

The 2025 edition of the SXSW Film & TV Festival took place between March 7th and 15th in Austin, Texas. Find the full 2025 line-up here.