Crawling out . . .
. . . from underneath my job, which has buried me for the past month, I've had the opportunity to see a movie this week that I really liked.
I thought that We Don't Live Here Anymore - starring Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Mark Ruffalo, and Peter Krause - was an amazing film. Directed by John J. Curran, the film is based on two short stories (by Andre Dubus) that chronicle infidielities committed by two married couples. Ruffalo plays the role of Jack, a college professor in an unhappy marriage with Terry (Dern), a rather slovenly houswife who, nonethless, loves her husband (and often yells at him) passionately. Bookending their tumultuous relationship are Edith (Watts), an ultra-neat, quiet beauty married to Hank (Krause), another college professor who has a rather fluid definition of faithfulness.
Jack and Edith secretly nurse an affection for each other, which they indulge. Edith knows they will get caught, but doesn't think her husband will mind. Jack, on the other hand, struggles with the idea that he may not love Terry at all anymore. Wracked with guilt, Jack practically sets Terry and Hank up on a date, then is by turns pleased (because he then feels his own infidelity is more justifiable) and horrified (because maybe part of him still loves Terry) when the two of them go to bed together.
Performances in this film are of the highest quality. The arguments between Jack and Terry are cutting and often cruel, underscoring the messy nature of their relationship. Conversely, Edith and Hank seem to feel so sterilized towards each other that passion doesn't enter into the equation for them, making the ending of the film predictable but somehow "right." Bedroom scenes of the two married couples emphasize how, even in the act of lovemaking, oceans of distance can separate people. We Don't Live Here Anymore is an interesting, and often heartbreaking, examination of marriage and infidelity.
I thought that We Don't Live Here Anymore - starring Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Mark Ruffalo, and Peter Krause - was an amazing film. Directed by John J. Curran, the film is based on two short stories (by Andre Dubus) that chronicle infidielities committed by two married couples. Ruffalo plays the role of Jack, a college professor in an unhappy marriage with Terry (Dern), a rather slovenly houswife who, nonethless, loves her husband (and often yells at him) passionately. Bookending their tumultuous relationship are Edith (Watts), an ultra-neat, quiet beauty married to Hank (Krause), another college professor who has a rather fluid definition of faithfulness.
Jack and Edith secretly nurse an affection for each other, which they indulge. Edith knows they will get caught, but doesn't think her husband will mind. Jack, on the other hand, struggles with the idea that he may not love Terry at all anymore. Wracked with guilt, Jack practically sets Terry and Hank up on a date, then is by turns pleased (because he then feels his own infidelity is more justifiable) and horrified (because maybe part of him still loves Terry) when the two of them go to bed together.
Performances in this film are of the highest quality. The arguments between Jack and Terry are cutting and often cruel, underscoring the messy nature of their relationship. Conversely, Edith and Hank seem to feel so sterilized towards each other that passion doesn't enter into the equation for them, making the ending of the film predictable but somehow "right." Bedroom scenes of the two married couples emphasize how, even in the act of lovemaking, oceans of distance can separate people. We Don't Live Here Anymore is an interesting, and often heartbreaking, examination of marriage and infidelity.
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