In
The Bedroom
Review
by : Eric Barker
Starring:
Tom Wilkinson (Dr. Matt Fowler), Sissy Spacek
(Ruth Fowler), Marisa Tomei (Natalie Strout)
Directed by: Todd Field
Written by: Robert Festinger and Todd Field, from
story “Killings” by Andre Dubus
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In-depth examination of love, murder and grief in a small
northeastern American town: an affair between a young man
and a married woman, who is divorcing her psychotic husband,
turns tragic.
The first
film directed by character actor Todd Field (Eyes Wide
Shut and The Haunting, among many others), In
the Bedroom is unsurprisingly an actor’s showcase, as
first films directed by actors often are, filled with telling
performances from both professionals and amateurs, and graced
with many charming details of the real world that lend it
a shocking reality when things turn horrible for everyone
about halfway through. But as the consequences of each character’s
choices unfold, setting up an array of conflicting moral dilemmas,
In the Bedroom withdraws like one of its inarticulate
characters and is finally mute concerning the darkest choice
of all -- murder.
Of course,
the argument against this criticism would be, “But this is
how it happens in the real world!” It’s heard often in screenwriting
workshops, and I’ve made it myself more than once, but the
cold reality is this: fiction ain’t the real world, art isn’t
the real world; if they were, we wouldn’t have invented them.
“This is how it would happen,” turns out to be a very slippery
slope. Yes, drama must use reality, ruthlessly, to create
any believable world, and yet the whole reason for the enterprise
is to find some sort of meaning in what poet Alan Dugan called
“the daily accident.”
Without
giving too much away, I think it’s safe to reveal that In
the Bedroom chooses to end in the middle of its story,
ultimately turning away from any artistic obligation to make
sense of itself. Someone in the story has to say it: “See?
Now, this was an example of that daily accident you‘ve heard
so much about.” Simply cutting to a wide shot of the town
at dawn is not enough.
Nevertheless,
it is clear that Field is more than an excellent director
of actors, he is a highly original American stylist, determined
to capture a kind of cinematic reality that recalls not only
his acknowledged influences (such as Stanley Kubrick), but
an altogether older school of realism from half a century
ago, when filmmakers as diverse as Elia Kazan and John Cassavetes,
realizing that the best drama is above all made of intangible
moments, transformed cinema by allowing improvisation into
the creative mix. It is a style rarely seen in the movies
anymore, one that eschews modern rhythmic editing -- that
is, corporate editing-to-be-editing, cut-cut-cutting like
a commercial for no other reason than to keep it all moving,
keep something happening -- in favor of a more temperate observation
of life, a storytelling through the evocation of everyday
things, a literate accumulation of the familiar in order to
provoke emotion without sentimentality.
In
the Bedroom is an impressive display of Field’s powers
of objectivity, and his ability to create stinging moments
of domestic anguish we have never seen (in recent American
movies, anyway), and it touches frequently upon issues of
family dynamics that are usually relegated to the therapist‘s
office rather than a multiplex. But his objectivity is also
the film’s greatest weakness, finally substituting the meat
of great drama -- human passion -- with a cool realism that
settles for underlining our foibles and leaving it at that.
One of
the most highly praised films of the 2001 award season, and
a favorite of critics who have a knee-jerk horror of special
effects and/or Hollywood product. Great ensemble acting, with
Sissy Spacek at the top of her form as an unforgiving, jealous
mother, her best work in years; Tom Wilkinson marvelous as
her beleaguered husband; and Marisa Tomei, hopefully emerging
from the confusion of her too-early stardom, is extremely
touching as a woman trying to break free of a bad marriage.
Notes:
Nominated
for 7 Oscars, In the Bedroom is already a solid favorite
in many award shows, winning Best Picture from the LA Film
Critics, and numerous acting awards for Sissy Spacek.
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