This film doesn't waste anyone's time with the specifics of what happened to these four people and how they ended up in the situation they're in and while I agree that part isn't needed I did feel that some of what the characters are feeling just didn't transmit completely. Story is about Jack and Terry Linden (Mark Ruffalo & Laura Dern) and Hank and Edith Evans (Peter Krause & Naomi Watts) who are two married couples and good friends with each other but what's unknown to Hank is that his wife is having an affair with Jack. After coming home late one night Terry tells Jack that she knows that he's having an affair but she doesn't know who it's with and she doesn't want her marriage to end.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** The marriage between Jack and Terry is obviously coming to an end as neither one can have a conversation with the other and eventually she starts to sleep with Hank. Finally both couples tell their spouses what has been going on and as the Linden's ultimately will separate it comes as a surprise to Hank when Edith decides to leave their marriage as well.
This film is directed by John Curran who based the script on two Andre Dubus short stories and while "In the Bedroom" had a more traditional concept in terms of storytelling I thought this effort fell just a hair short to get the full emotional impact. It does come close though and the actors do a good job of bringing the vulnerabilities of the characters to the surface with Dern and Ruffalo standing out. Dern's portrayal of this domestically challenged woman is actually the more believable and it's been quite some time since she's been this good in a film. Watching the Linden marriage crumble apart with the characters getting angrier and angrier reminded me of the 1982 film "Shoot the Moon" as these people had to come to grips with the reality of their situation. But I think this film comes across as missing a key scene or two that would allow the viewer to fully understand what these people are going through and give this film that something special it craves. The actors give the story it's life and depth to the point that it just can't be ignored after an initial viewing but I came away feeling that I just didn't get the full spectrum of the events.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** The marriage between Jack and Terry is obviously coming to an end as neither one can have a conversation with the other and eventually she starts to sleep with Hank. Finally both couples tell their spouses what has been going on and as the Linden's ultimately will separate it comes as a surprise to Hank when Edith decides to leave their marriage as well.
This film is directed by John Curran who based the script on two Andre Dubus short stories and while "In the Bedroom" had a more traditional concept in terms of storytelling I thought this effort fell just a hair short to get the full emotional impact. It does come close though and the actors do a good job of bringing the vulnerabilities of the characters to the surface with Dern and Ruffalo standing out. Dern's portrayal of this domestically challenged woman is actually the more believable and it's been quite some time since she's been this good in a film. Watching the Linden marriage crumble apart with the characters getting angrier and angrier reminded me of the 1982 film "Shoot the Moon" as these people had to come to grips with the reality of their situation. But I think this film comes across as missing a key scene or two that would allow the viewer to fully understand what these people are going through and give this film that something special it craves. The actors give the story it's life and depth to the point that it just can't be ignored after an initial viewing but I came away feeling that I just didn't get the full spectrum of the events.